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…breathe deeply and often…

  • On the basic plot diagram, I’m midway on the rising action, maybe not in order. I’m happy with the lot I’ve written and marked completed. Spoiler alert, I wrote the climax already. I couldn’t help myself, it had to be done before I could write another word or make a cup of coffee. I’m juggling

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  • My Wedding Dress

    I bought the perfect shoes to wear to my niece’s wedding. They were black leather with an inch and a half kitten heel. Just above the heel was a gold plate that made me glisten when I walked.  But I didn’t have a dress, so I  made one. I haven’t done any real sewing, not

    Read more

  • I’ve been writing a novel with the working title, “In the Time of the Sonnets.” Without giving anything away at all, it’s got Shakespeare, giants, messengers, and kings in it. Of course there will be a witch here or there, but that’s beside the point. I’m heavy into the rising action and I’m already surprised

    Read more

  • Van Gogh Epiphany

    When you start reading to your kids, you do it because you want them to learn to read. Then this happens. My first born read a  passage from a book about Vincent Van Gogh having a “cafe moment,” when Van Gogh’s experience, memory, talent, time, and place all converged into one glorious period of creativity

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  • The Mighty Oak

    The Mighty Oak Although it is true that it looks easy, swinging off a rope ain’t what it’s cracked up to be. It takes more engineering and logic than some people have to make it work right.    When the dirt road was eye level to the best swinging branch of the giant oak tree, Read more

  • How To Invoke A Muse

    Alicia Keyes, cool woman and soul singer, said, “You already have everything you need inside of you right now, today.”  Every ceremony begins with an invocation, a throwback to the Greeks or Romans or one of those ancient peoples who were scared of angering the gods. An invocation is an invitation to the muse to Read more

  • Lotsa Dollar Surprise

    I left the windows on the car open when it got hot in the summer. Mom and Dad always did, so I figured I better too. The car was so hot a dog would have died if I’d have left it in there, a kid would have too, open windows or not. Our parents left Read more

  • You Get What You Pay For

    He was too cheap to be a companion and not expensive enough to be a decent handyman. Read more

  • Reserve

    “Here, have some firewood,” I told Suze before Caine could get there. “We’ll make a fire so he won’t mess with it. I hate it when men think they have to fix every fire a woman starts. It’s unnecessary and downright insulting. They just don’t get it. Dad was always bad about that, and Caine Read more

  • Time to Tell the Bees

    Time to Tell the Bees “You’ve got to tell the bees,” said Luke. “When the beekeeper dies, someone has to tell the bees so they know someone else is coming. They were a part of her family, like the cat and dog. They’ll go crazy if you don’t tell them. It’s only polite.”  “Really? Your Read more

  • On the basic plot diagram, I’m midway on the rising action, maybe not in order. I’m happy with the lot I’ve written and marked completed. Spoiler alert, I wrote the climax already. I couldn’t help myself, it had to be done before I could write another word or make a cup of coffee. I’m juggling

    Read more

  • My Wedding Dress

    I bought the perfect shoes to wear to my niece’s wedding. They were black leather with an inch and a half kitten heel. Just above the heel was a gold plate that made me glisten when I walked.  But I didn’t have a dress, so I  made one. I haven’t done any real sewing, not

    Read more

  • I’ve been writing a novel with the working title, “In the Time of the Sonnets.” Without giving anything away at all, it’s got Shakespeare, giants, messengers, and kings in it. Of course there will be a witch here or there, but that’s beside the point. I’m heavy into the rising action and I’m already surprised

    Read more

  • Van Gogh Epiphany

    When you start reading to your kids, you do it because you want them to learn to read. Then this happens. My first born read a  passage from a book about Vincent Van Gogh having a “cafe moment,” when Van Gogh’s experience, memory, talent, time, and place all converged into one glorious period of creativity

    Read more


  • Meteor Shower

    The house went dead quiet and the den lights went out. The whirr of the refrigerator stopped. Norris knew something was wrong, same as I did. He asked for cream before the fridge got warm, he understood. I gave him treats instead. Usually these things flickered and came back on within seconds, then everything blinked,…

  • Tune up

    “One of the best parts of the concert is when the orchestra tunes up their instruments,” said Silas. “It hides the frenzy backstage, but hints at it when the squawks and squeaks get flung from the pit to the back of the house.”  “The more frenetic the tune up, the bigger the tribute the director,”…

  • Stella’s Walk

    Stella felt like she walked to the door of an open plane. She was terrified of heights, two miles was a long way to fall. Her walk was short today, less than fifty feet, and she didn’t have to take it, not really. Maybe she wouldn’t. She could turn around. Her friends that surrounded her…

  • Exerpt from Mark Twain’s War Prayer

    Mark Twain’s “War Prayer”. It’s not for everyone. It’s not sweet nor is it funny. Lots of folks don’t even like it. “Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth into battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace…

  • Mom’s Road Trip, Revisted

    Mom lost her mind and married Roebuck. None of the kids could stand him, but she was entitled to her midlife crisis, same as anyone else. Since his house burned down on their first date, something about gunpowder gun cleaning equipment and an explosion, such a catastrophe, that they moved to Texas soon after they…