Tell me. What's your story? You have to have a hook, right? You have about 30 seconds to get someone's attention rather a literary agent, publisher, or someone to whom you're trying to introduce your writing. I know the feeling. It still sometimes feels uncomfortable for me to feel like I'm promoting my writing when some… Continue reading How do You Know What Subject is Best for Your Writing?
Category: Literature
Walk Along the Beach, a poem
I reach for your hand to walk along the beach. White sand between toes can be twenty instead of ten I reach for your hand, but you turn away to look at orange streaks of sky. Small fires reflect in your eyes. Sometimes I see the mountain shades of the blue of Blueridge September skies… Continue reading Walk Along the Beach, a poem
Make Your Poetry Ugly Beautiful
Do what? Poetry. Who needs it? It does not sale in the market if you're looking to make money. For people who read, poetry seems to cause emotions almost as extreme as politics. They either like or they don't. My husband has hated poetry most of his life, but claims I am bringing him around… Continue reading Make Your Poetry Ugly Beautiful
What is “Never Saw Jesus in the Mirror”?
I took seven-and-a-half-years to write my novel, Sons of the Edisto. Like a friendship begun in childhood, I have scribbled different narratives and poems about my journey from journalism into motherhood and teaching. It might sound mundane at first, but ... Some had to do with my relationship with my husband. Some poems were about my… Continue reading What is “Never Saw Jesus in the Mirror”?
The Not So Mundane
Luckily, those wars end with writing. Not someone getting arrested.
Remembering Confidence
I am still here. I am even writing again. You: You mean you stopped? The Craziest Best Professor Ever Creatively, yeah. There was a situation. Something about working extremely hard for an insane professor who said, "You need to forget everything you've ever been told about writing," and a professor who gave straight A education students Cs… Continue reading Remembering Confidence
Let’s Catch Up: How You’re Doing and How I’m Doing
I found this online and wanted to share it with you. Courtesy of http://collegeessayeditor.com/home/2011/08/10/the-writers-sense-of-humor/ Have you ever been in a situation where your mind goes blank and you forget to use your or you're? It is like the use of their, they're or there. Last week, I was writing a short essay for my English… Continue reading Let’s Catch Up: How You’re Doing and How I’m Doing
Legends of the Edisto: What I Remember
The woods around Mizpah Methodist Church in Bamberg, South Carolina. My father's parents accomplished more than I ever dreamed in a lifetime. People who knew them still talk about their legacies. My oldest cousin posts documents showing my grandfather's many accomplishments as a student and as a chemist. He worked for a company called Sonoco, and… Continue reading Legends of the Edisto: What I Remember
Truths about Time
College football is not everything. It is not worth your full attention on Saturday afternoons when your time is a pot of boiling water about to spill. After fifteen years, time shows me I still don't like Emerson and Thoreau. Yet, Mark Twain - for me - still cuts the BS and gets to the story.… Continue reading Truths about Time
Legends of the Edisto: How to Say Goodbye … For Now
Courtesy of http://edistofriends.org I stand by the black river. It is the longest black river in the United States. Nothing special about it when you first look. Comparing the river to another is like comparing the Tarboro River to the streams in the mountains of North Carolina. It is murky, slow and ancient. Unless sun… Continue reading Legends of the Edisto: How to Say Goodbye … For Now