Do you feel you have a calling to do a particular task in life? What is it?  When did you recognize it? How did you recognize it?  Do you ever doubt it? Is it a burden or a gift? These are not idle questions for me.  I want to know how other folks handle the […] Read More

 You probably remember the moment.  Who could forget?   “Child as he was, he was desperate with hunger, and reckless with misery. He rose from the table; and advancing to the master, basin and spoon in hand, said: somewhat alarmed at his own temerity: ‘Please, sir, I want some more.’” Source: http://www.globalresearch.ca/millions-more-us-children-in-poverty/16942  That moment in the […] Read More

My rap debut is in the works — on the subject of age 65, immortality, and related subjects.  Just wanted to give you a heads-up. It's going to be a don't-miss. Serious elder writer wisdom! I know that there are larger numbers, but still….          65???   Read More

From Guest Blogger, Marjorie Hudson, author of Searching for Virginia Dare Fourteen years ago I went searching for Virginia Dare. What I found was a new confidence and freedom in my choices as a writer. I learned how to go off the map edges to the wild uncharted places beyond. Virginia Dare was the first […] Read More

After dreaming this week that Rahm Emmanel dissed my wardrobe as drab, I did a little research. One website (didn't say I was doing Ph.D. level work here) said something about inadequacy dreams that I found appealing.  "Most of the time, though, people who have such dreams are unlikely to fail a test in real […] Read More

Already he was in top-hero status in my pantheon.  Then the flood of publicity this week told me something I hadn't realized: When Nelson Mandela, then imprisoned, changed his strategy and began to negotiate with the white government of South Africa, his colleagues in revolution believed that he had sold out. Which pretty much put […] Read More

Last spring, Publishers Weekly published a story of mine about the dramatic lengths I was prepared to go to for the launch of my novel Cobalt Blue.  I mentioned actual dancing, but hadn't seriously contemplated that that would be part of my strategic plan. Then I receive in the email today from my photographer friend […] Read More

You could call it coincidence or synchronicity depending on your view of life.  Here's what happened:  A couple of years ago, a retired minister, Mahan Siler, came to a week-long writing retreat I led at Doe Branch Ink in the NC mountains. Such a thinker and writer is he that I was very flattered he […] Read More

 From guest blogger Jodi Barnes, author of Santa Breaks Bad Good writers seek out uncomfortable, sometimes terrifying, situations in which to place their characters — making for good character development and compelling plots. But when the writer puts herself, by choice, into uncertain territory, that can be the scariest of all. We never know what's […] Read More

At the Monterey Aquarium in California a few weeks ago, I came upon this scene straight out of my novel Cobalt Blue. The picture's above, the moment in the story below.   "A great window onto an underwater world and inside, slowly rising and falling, bubble shapes with their trailing strands. Jellyfish! Chillingly primitive. Before […] Read More