Professional athletes, trainers, and coaches tout the merits of cross training: doing a variety of activities that develop different areas of fitness. A tennis pro may lift weights to beef up her back hand. An NFL running back may takeRead More… CREATIVE CROSS TRAINING
Blank space
“Class, take 5 minutes and write anything you like.” For many writers this is a dream come true—no rules, just write. For me that blank page is a glaring spotlight that sends my imagination scurrying like a mouse into theRead More… Blank space
What, me worry?
Long before Bill W. and AA, the Serenity Prayer hung on a wall in my Aunt Myrt’s kitchen. On the windowsill in the same room, she also placed a small, sky- blue clay figurine, a squatty cross between a vultureRead More… What, me worry?
TO DO OR NOT TO DO – THAT IS THE QUESTION
“Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow.” I really should needlepoint a pillow with those words. It’ll match the unfinished daisy afghan my mother-in-law gave me on my first Christmas as a married woman—47 years ago. Yes,Read More… TO DO OR NOT TO DO – THAT IS THE QUESTION
How to Write Pulp Fiction
Way back when… in the first half of the 20th century, a market for mass audience fiction magazines and books was created and printed on cheap “pulp” paper. These stories were collectively called “Pulp Fiction.” The pulp fiction era gaveRead More… How to Write Pulp Fiction
IT’S A BOOK!!
November 5, 2018 at 11:11am. I deliver my first-born. Her name is OB-LA-DI, OB-LA-DA. She weighs in at 1.4 pounds/381 pages and is 6″ by 9″ in length. She is attended by her mid-wife, Kindle Direct Publishing, and her godparents—John,Read More… IT’S A BOOK!!
Sea of Yellow
I manage to harrumph between breaths, my feet still trudging over rocky terrain. The sun burns my neck and my moist shirt clings to my ribs and back. “We’re almost there?” Hank groggily asks. He is probably rubbing his eyes,Read More… Sea of Yellow
LEAVING THE NEST
Over the summer, I bore witness to parenting, avian-style. Bluebirds in Sacramento urged their young to eat the mealworms on their own since their once safe home had become a sweltering box. Robin mothers and fathers patiently fed their speckledRead More… LEAVING THE NEST
BEGINNING, MIDDLE, THE END
May 11, 2013. Two weeks after attending my first writers conference, I noted on my calendar – “Novel idea – No Rhyme Nor Reason.” I was a 63 year-old retired nurse, married with no children, and had done some traveling.Read More… BEGINNING, MIDDLE, THE END
Fleeing
I should have known not to call it home, should have known that doing so would allow it to be taken from us. But I’m only fourteen, and Mama hasn’t taught me how to defend myself, let alone my wholeRead More… Fleeing