(“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. […]
Window on Writing: Great Lakes ACFW Mini-Conference
I haven’t been to a writing conference in years. Years and years. Well, until this past Saturday when I attended the first one sponsored by the newly formed ACFW Great Lakes Chapter. I loved meeting other Michigan writers. And I came away encouraged and inspired. With a little yellow pad filled with notes. Author […]
Window on Writing: Upside Down and Right Side Up
The room is dark. The house is cold. I snuggle deep under the down comforter. And reach out my hand to fumble for the Droid on the bedside table. While the mantra runs through my head. Hit your knees before you hit the keys. ~@stickyJesus But I pull the Droid under the covers. And hit […]
Window on Writing: Looking into the Light
A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used.~Oliver Wendall Holmes, Jr. We’ve been staring at the sun over at The High Calling. Trying to capture lens flare […]
Window on Writing: The Sounds of Silence
Deeply listening to what is within and around us changes us. ~John Fox I’ve tried to write to the sound of music. It doesn’t work for me. I create better in silence. Although there really isn’t such a thing. It’s when I’m silent that I hear the sounds of silence. Silence makes you attentive to […]
Window on Writing: Today I’m Frustrated
The wicker basket spewed the toys all over the living room this morning. Again. The grandgirl spewed bananas and cereal all over my fresh-washed white robe. Again. I’ve closed doors and moved furniture strategically to block baby finger magnets. Again. I notice a vague ache in my back. Either Lillee is getting heavier or I’m […]
Window on Writing: Wordless Recreation
Too much reading is very bad indeed. Yep, you read that right. That’s what Dorothea Brande said in her classic book, Becoming a Writer. Say what? She says writers tend to take too many “busmen’s holidays.” In other words, they tend to spend their “off time” doing writing-related activities (such as reading or talking shop), […]
Motion~In More Than 140 Characters
The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life. ~William Faulkner Note: I took this photo at a basketball game yesterday. It’s terrible. And I love […]
