How quick they grow. Feet push up. Hands grip the couch. Soon the cliché pitter-patter turns to bam-bam. You realize how out of shape you are, or even if you're a marathon parent, you cannot keep up with the little creature. When potty training, he unravels the toilet paper. Around the table, you're family debates where… Continue reading Telling A Boy’s Story
Category: Literature
Pave Your Road Using Less Words
I read advice about editing. The Daily Post on WordPress presented a writing challenge to bloggers: Papa Says Get Economical. Ingredients you need: Paragraph from a previous blog Keyboard Backspace key Remember cut and let go. The Daily Post encourages bloggers to edit a post and use less words. No matter how long you've been… Continue reading Pave Your Road Using Less Words
Poetry Collection Work Out
Poetry challenges my mind, heart and fingers. It gives all the writing muscles a work out. Growing up, I wrote poetry all the time, and I was accepted to the S.C. Governor's School of the Arts primarily for my poetic writing. At age fifteen I was not able to formulate stories like I do now. My… Continue reading Poetry Collection Work Out
Risk your Life to Write
Courtesy of http://www.capitalnewyork.com. Imagine every piece you wrote was interpreted as sinful. Picture yourself walking down a road to another house or place to make a phone call. In that phone call, you said your poem, story or essay line by line. You say each word in a hushed voice, because you're always scared someone will catch… Continue reading Risk your Life to Write
Get Queried!
Two months ago I emailed a letter to a group called YA Stands. On the first week of the month, YA Stands accepts letters for writers seeking help to improve query letters for their Young Adult manuscripts. It selects one writer and his or her query letter. After writing several different drafts of the query letter for… Continue reading Get Queried!
Days of Our Reading Lives: This Rock, Book Review
This Rock by Robert Morgan tells the struggle of a family in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Rating: Sum It Up: Powell brothers, Moody and Muir, faceoff in a struggle to become men without a father. Ginny, their widowed mother, pushes younger brother, Muir, harder to work on the farm. Ambitious, Muir wants… Continue reading Days of Our Reading Lives: This Rock, Book Review
Thought for the Night: Simplicity
Write simple words. Mold them, shape them. Keep them simple. Who will read them? The greats. Sure. There are the greats, but they sit on thrones above. The ones who want a break from work. The ones who want a break from bills. The ones who want a break from screaming children. The ones who… Continue reading Thought for the Night: Simplicity
Days of Our Reading Lives: This Rock, Part I
Inspired by Pat Conroy's The Reading Life, I created a new themed post, Days of Our Reading Lives. Why is it important? Reading for a writer is sensual. It is an endurance of an author's passion over a long period of time much like a strong relationship. Books connect you to people, open new doors and… Continue reading Days of Our Reading Lives: This Rock, Part I
Friday Night Lights: The Thing about Why
Shots echo. Not many. Just enough. Congress votes down new gun law. Children dead – six year olds remebered from Sandy Hook. Once smiling faces not enough to move men and women in big boy and big girl suits. Yesterday, an armed man threatens the school where I used to substitute. The police… Continue reading Friday Night Lights: The Thing about Why
Painted Blue: Beyond the Walmart Aisles
Painting by Brendan O'Connell. Courtesy of http://www.cbs.com. I spent the night in a horse barn. Years ago, I dated a guy who worked with horses. He built an apartment within a barn of six stallions. "Most of the girls where you come from would never spend the night out here," he told me. Most of… Continue reading Painted Blue: Beyond the Walmart Aisles
Corrie's Season 