In memory of novelist Stephen Bly, here’s a repost of an article he shared last year on western novel research, especially as it relates to Cowboy for a Rainy Afternoon. Do They Sweat in Duke City? / Fiction as Research by Stephen Bly New Mexico heat blanketed Albuquerque that July like too many covers […]
Five Minutes with Wonder
Joining Lisa Jo today for her five-minute word prompt on wonder. GO! Sometimes I hurtle through my day with asteroid momentum, numb to the awe-tinged. Sometimes I just dog paddle through my week while glory swims around me. I rush through life at a frantic pace with eyes that do not see. I don’t stop […]
Window on Writing: Whoa!
We head east, past the field, past the house. Dennis leads the way. Turk’s a buckskin, part American Saddlebred. I follow on Lady, his part-Shetland strawberry roan. She’s my age, and I think she’s jealous. She limps. And swings her head around to nip at my feet. I call ahead. I think she’s hurt. […]
Window on Writing: Thank You, God, for This Orange Day
Thank you, God, for this orange day waking saffron breath of dawn draped in wonder glory whispers. Thank you, God, for this orange day splashed with sherbert shades of joy citrus-scented monarch morning. Thank you, God, for this orange day brewed with wisdom alive with song wrapped in warmth mandarin spiced. Thank you, God, for […]
Window on Writing: Ode to Yogurt
It’s another T.S. Poetry challenge. What can you find for 99 cents? Take a picture. Write a poem. Ode to Yogurt We met at the crossroads of the coolers in the middle of the aisle you so strawberry sweet thick and creamy smooth a ninety-nine cent bargain culture in a spoon.
Textures of Text: Book Review ~ Story Engineering by Larry Brooks
My shelves sag with writing books. But this one won’t make it to the shelf any time soon. Story Engineering demands a second reading. Maybe a third. A lingering over several paragraphs and pages. Because there is so much here. Yes, he does repeat a lot, but that’s what my brain needs. Repetition in various […]
Textures of Text: Poems-in-Waiting
Last week I texturized a year of my poetry in Wordle form in response to a T.S. Poetry Press challenge. And L.L. Barkat found a poem-in-waiting within those words: Now find love gentle sweet, like blue expectations attached to grace. She found other poems in the Wordles of others, too, and featured them as well as […]
Window on Writing: Not Writing
(“weeds” from the not-yet-tilled garden) She wrote it on the back–66.11. That’s how much I had left on my Barnes & Noble gift card (one of them, anyway) after I bought a tomato caprese sandwich and a glass of iced green tea. My son keeps me well stocked with B&N gift cards. I stopped in […]
Five-Minute Friday: Deep Breath
Five Minute Fridays with Lisa Jo, the Gypsy Mama. I’m going to try this. At least most Fridays. At least for awhile. In addition to Friday’s meditation. Because it’s good practice. There are rules. Which are: Throw caution to the wind, and write your heart out for five minutes. Only. And this week’s prompt is DEEP […]
Window on Writing: The Putty Grampa Flubberized
Flubber. That was the word I grasped for yesterday when a friend asked how my writing was coming along. The Putty Grampa has morphed into silly putty. Flubberized. He’s exploded, and pieces are bouncing off my brain. He started as a simple glob based on less than a thimbleful of my dad’s wispy memories. […]
