On short pieces:   One-time flat fee of $95 for a critique of up to 40  pages for manuscripts received by January 1.   Fiction or nonfiction; excerpt, book proposal, short fiction, or article.    You'll receive a report on structure, use of language, pacing, any needs for tightening, missing pieces, suspense and "engaging-ness." I write a summary of […] Read More

The office upstairs from mine opened up yesterday. (Sad to say, Greenpeace is moving.)   But the change opens a space in this charming, historic 1910 “office house” at the downtown edge of Raleigh’s Oakwood, a few blocks from the Capitol.   The building, called Free Range Studio, currently contains four writers, one small art […] Read More

When I moved my site last week to this new location, I was sad to lose my 52 formally committed “Followers.” I think Frequent Visitors would be a better term. Or Cybermates. Or Bold Blog Readers. (Perhaps you have some ideas?) Whatever it’s called, I hope you’ll sign up again — by clicking on either […] Read More

I'm envious of this guy Ben Bradlee, former editor of The Washington Post. Not because of his journalism career, stellar as that is. (He was in charge of Woodward and Bernstein and the Watergate story.) But because he decidedly doesn't have the slightest smidgeon of obsessive-compulsive disorder, of any kind of anxiety disorder. I know […] Read More

  Walking back from the Post Office just now, I noticed freshly-fallen yellow gingko leaves on the ground. There's no other leaf like a gingko.  When I was growing up in Wilmington, I knew where the only such trees in town were.  These fan-shaped items redefine "leaf." So I collected a few just now and […] Read More

One: I’ve revamped my website. Two and immensely larger: my husband and I combined our finances. After only 27 years of marriage. For a person of the freelance mentality, this is a large move. Bottom line: I’ve proved to myself all I feel the need to prove. No more keeping score on myself. I’m ready […] Read More

Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable. — Wendy Wasserstein quoted at She Writes (I also think one can stay in and do something remarkable.) Read More

These trees are across the street from my office. Fall color can be an irresistible reminder to dare to live with one's innate flair.   Read More

Last week I committed myself here on this very blog to finish by last night a project that has been sitting on my desk at home for four years. This job was to go through the thousands of slides and negatives and B&W prints from the years when I was doing a great deal of […] Read More

Thursday morning, I started working on a little project that has been sitting unfinished on my desk at home for FOUR YEARS!!!! The wee task is culling and properly storing the photos I took in the many years when I was doing a lot of travel writing. They have been sitting in little yellow boxes […] Read More