Education, Family, Music, Writing

Why Music Drives Me

Even when I work late at night, I have something playing in the background. via Why Music Drives Me

Art, Blogging, read aloud, Writing

“Some Memories” Read Aloud

It's been a while, since I've blogged. According to my last post, I have not blogged in seven months.  There are some reasons for that. Son. Daughter. Husband. Students. Testing. Writing is still at the center of my heart, but in my first year of teaching, I found that literacy became more important, simply because… Continue reading “Some Memories” Read Aloud

Family, Life, Literature, parenting, Writing

The Not So Mundane

Luckily, those wars end with writing. Not someone getting arrested.

Family, parenthood, Writing

Take Your Time: Reasons Why

I don't blog much these days. In fact, A Word or More has changed over the past four years from blogging twice a week to once a week to whenever I can. Sometimes, I post a poem - written with raw emotion - like my post the other day about the new struggles in raising a child… Continue reading Take Your Time: Reasons Why

Art, Blogging, Family, Writing

Ways we Write: The Charles Project

Dedicated to my Aunt Sharon.  Evolve. Grow. Nurture. Writing that lives within us and sprouts words on the page do all of those things. It fails to linger long, especially as we - as writers and people - change. I believe the same applies for any artist. Art is like my five-year-old son. It won't… Continue reading Ways we Write: The Charles Project

Family, marriage, Memoir Shorts, Ready to Talk, Writing

Ready to Talk: The Infection, Part 2

The Infection, Part 2 Memoir Shorts  When MRSA first streamed through our blood and into our skin in summer 2011, I worked two days a week at a cafe.  Fears mounted like a stack of pennies that people save and believed one day will amount to something. One month, Ben's job covered the rent and… Continue reading Ready to Talk: The Infection, Part 2

Blogging, Life, Publishing, Writing

Time Best Spent Writing

Your son comes in the bathroom. He sits on the floor and asks when you're going to play in his room with him. The new baby cries ready to be fed. "We will play after nap," I say. Just a few moments before, your son had entertained himself and the baby slept. You have just… Continue reading Time Best Spent Writing

Education, Family, Poetry, Writing

Days of a Working Writer

I want to write. I got to write. Cliches. Who minds? Little time to write more than a  few words. Complete sentences, maybe. Is it sign I'm lazy, or just the sign of the times working from six a.m. or sometimes five.   Head stuck in a book. Close the book. Son wakes up. Sweet… Continue reading Days of a Working Writer

Writing

Pace. Set. Go.

Gotta post it. Gotta post it. Gotta post it … turns into that same annoying song you hear in your head again and again. It's on the same as a Brittney Spears's song. The bad thing about it playing in your head is that you can't turn it off. Yes, you can. One of the… Continue reading Pace. Set. Go.

Blogging, Journalism, Life, Literature, Publishing, Writing

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