Linda Ann Rentschler's Blog

My Novel Self

Linda Ann Rentschler

Linda Ann Rentschler
Birthday
October 01
Bio
Author of JITTERS which became a Lifetime Original Movie, MOTHER, which was a main selection of the Literary Guild and Doubleday book clubs. Author of ebooks, STATE OF DISGRACE, and FAT CAMP; Playwright, Scriptwriter

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OCTOBER 10, 2011 8:18AM

Why you should go to your high school reunion

I could have easily talked myself out of attending my high school reunion, but it had been ten years since the last one I attended, and I like to think I'm no longer the social chicken I used to be. Most people say there are reasons they don't keep in touch… Read full post »
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JULY 26, 2011 12:28PM

Quit your way to happiness

As a teen I had memorized the entire poem “Don’t quit,” and ironically spent most of my life quitting everything.  I quit clubs, changed high schools, dropped out of college, went back to college, left a string of jobs, and even divorced.  I quit churches, bands, and corpo… Read full post »

1 Comments
MAY 6, 2011 7:51AM

Writing from the country, PART 2


For a person who grew up with streetlights on every corner, traffic lights at intersections, and porch lights that could spot Carnegie Hall, my understanding of “the dark” didn’t begin to match what dark began to look like at this farm. By seven-thirty I was out of the writing busin… Read full post »
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MAY 5, 2011 8:46AM

Writing from the country, part 1


It was either spend my anniversary without my husband, or accompany him to Port Allegany for one of his weekend farming trips.  This year, to commemorate our seventeenth year of married life, we left the kids at home with my mother in-law and planned to stay in the small house on
… Read full post »
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MAY 3, 2011 2:00PM

Finding the Right Mother's Day Gift

As we approach Mother’s Day I recall the agony of trying to choose an appropriate gift for my departed mother. My mother was difficult to please, and this was never so evident as when she opened my gifts. Unlike the more Americanized mothers, mine was Italian and quick to express her… Read full post »

2 Comments
APRIL 4, 2011 9:37AM

Precious Rejections

I have a thick file of rejection letters I started in 1977 and will never throw away.  Trust me, you can amass quite a collection over so many years.  I’ve acquired rejections from agents, publishers, magazines, newspapers, stage publishers, music publishers, and production/… Read full post »
6 Comments
Editor’s Pick
MARCH 15, 2011 8:22AM

On the anniversary of my father's death


I remember my Sicilian father tending to his garden, a beer can poised in a flower bed, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He would grow several kinds of tomatoes, zucchini the size of baseball bats, and the most perfectly shaped green peppers. Our front lawn was always impeccable.… Read full post »
7 Comments
FEBRUARY 25, 2011 2:08PM

Accidental Motherhood

Babies were as much a part of my Italian upbringing as funerals.  It was possible to hand off a baby during the anti-pasta and never see it again until pastry time.  So I never really plotted to have a baby.  There was always a cousin’s child I could hold for a co… Read full post »
3 Comments
FEBRUARY 22, 2011 9:32AM

Politics and spaghetti


I used to be a passionate Democrat from a family of democrats.  At seventeen I wore a McGovern button and wanted nothing more than to witness the end of the Vietnam War and hold the president to his promises.  I believed that we should help people who were less fortunate, and
… Read full post »
3 Comments
FEBRUARY 17, 2011 4:16PM

Please screen my video

Hello readers,
I could really use some feedback on the material in this video.  It's a sitcom format, just about 20 minutes.
Please let me know what you think.  You can email me privately if you prefer.
Thank you!

Linda@larentschler.com

http://larentschler.com/deathbed.html

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JANUARY 25, 2011 3:00PM

Blogging a howl

A long time ago I produced a local live cable TV show.  I remember that feeling of panic when a guest didn’t show up.  I would look out the window wondering how to talk a police officer into being interviewed, and before I could gather my thoughts, my legs were already… Read full post »

5 Comments
JANUARY 10, 2011 3:04PM

Dear Glee, Sing more, fight less


I love the concept of Glee.  I was one of the odd ducks, playing guitar, singing in Up With People and church, embracing the idea that you could serenade society into a kindness movement.  I never once took a slushy on the chin. 

I have watched Glee with my… Read full post »
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JANUARY 5, 2011 8:54AM

Letting go of Christmas



My January was off to a grand start when I managed to convince my family to toss the dead tree out of the house on New Year’s Day.  I love Christmas as much as anyone but I’m also eager to do more than mourn its passing.  And the sound… Read full post »
3 Comments
Editor’s Pick
DECEMBER 27, 2010 8:00AM

How to celebrate New Year's Eve

My lack of enthusiasm for New Year’s Eve had been blamed on my James Taylor albums, my dates, my lack of dates, and my general inability to stay awake past eleven on a weeknight.  My problem was not genetic.  It was generational.

My parents’ New Year’s Eve parties were legendary. … Read full post »
10 Comments
Editor’s Pick
DECEMBER 15, 2010 10:42AM

My mother did not go gently

My mother with Emphysema, oxygen tank in tow, never gave up an ounce of power no matter how many times she was in and out of hospitals.  She attended family functions whether it seemed risky or not, and only toward the very end did she even ask about stairs.  When a… Read full post »

12 Comments
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DECEMBER 1, 2010 8:25PM

Stealing an A

I decided to take a Social Psychology night class at college.  I was eager to understand education in its broadest sense, and hoped to have a richer experience in a classroom shared with working people, people who dressed in business clothing and took their education seriously.  It also did… Read full post »

18 Comments
Editor’s Pick
NOVEMBER 29, 2010 8:57PM

Embracing my inner Italian

At this time of year as the ornaments come out and the cookies bake and we sing Christmas carols, I remember being a child and walking past other houses in town, admiring the decorations and trying to picture my life as an adult.  In these fantasies I would always have a… Read full post »
9 Comments
NOVEMBER 29, 2010 8:57PM

Embracing my inner Italian

At this time of year as the ornaments come out and the cookies bake and we sing Christmas carols, I remember being a child and walking past other houses in town, admiring the decorations and trying to picture my life as an adult.  In these fantasies I would always have a… Read full post »
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NOVEMBER 25, 2010 6:13PM

Cemetery Games


At my paternal Grandmother's house, Thanksgiving dinner lasted a good seven hours.  This clocked time was only eating--not cooking, not setting up.  We'd gather at a table we affectionately referred to as the Last Supper, which was set up in the basement, and ate course by c/… Read full post »
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NOVEMBER 25, 2010 6:13PM

Cemetery Games


At my paternal Grandmother's house, Thanksgiving dinner lasted a good seven hours.  This clocked time was only eating--not cooking, not setting up.  We'd gather at a table we affectionately referred to as the Last Supper, which was set up in the basement, and ate course by c/… Read full post »
2 Comments
NOVEMBER 21, 2010 8:37PM

Cemetery games

At my paternal Grandmother's house, Thanksgiving dinner lasted a good seven hours.  This clocked time was only eating--not cooking, not setting up.  We'd gather at a table we affectionately referred to as the Last Supper, which was set up in the basement, and ate course by course until we w… Read full post »

4 Comments
NOVEMBER 15, 2010 8:16PM

How to Survive an Italian Thanksgiving

At an Italian Thanksgiving table you serve the antipasto, soup, baked pasta, assorted meats, salad, roasted chestnuts, mixed nuts, stuffed mushrooms, and wine.  Eventually, after some digesting and table clearing, the turkey will appear with a stuffing made from ricotta cheese.   It's… Read full post »

2 Comments
NOVEMBER 15, 2010 8:05PM

Surviving an Italian Thanksgiving


At an Italian Thanksgiving table you serve the antipasto, soup, baked pasta, assorted meats, salad, roasted chestnuts, mixed nuts, stuffed mushrooms, and wine.  Eventually, after some digesting and table clearing, the turkey will appear with a stuffing made from ricotta cheese.   It's/… Read full post »
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NOVEMBER 15, 2010 8:05PM

Surviving an Italian Thanksgiving


At an Italian Thanksgiving table you serve the antipasto, soup, baked pasta, assorted meats, salad, roasted chestnuts, mixed nuts, stuffed mushrooms, and wine.  Eventually, after some digesting and table clearing, the turkey will appear with a stuffing made from ricotta cheese.   It's/… Read full post »
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NOVEMBER 1, 2010 12:06PM

My First Rejection Letter

When my first book was rejected in 1977 I took it very personally. To add insult to injury, my manuscript had been relegated to the children’s book department and rejected from there. The letter arrived in mid December as I was holding my breath for that Christmas miracle. I sulked through… Read full post »
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