Category: blog

It was as if Clarissa had known this moment would come.  Everything was against it—her family, his family, the simmering feud that had been going on for years over a failed business partnership, even geography.  Damon lived in a townhouse in Georgetown; she had a one-room apartment in Oakland she could barely afford on her salary as a barista.  Good thing she had a scholarship or Berkeley would

I just listened to Miranda Lambert’s song, “Tin Man” and it reminded me how powerful it can be to take a cultural icon and use it to build a personal narrative or poem around. Some years back I heard Kathy Griffin’s song about Peter Pan and used that icon to craft my own poem about the flying young man who refused to grow up. (It’s here on my

Yes, I’m here.  Life has gotten complicated (my husband is ill), forcing me to drop the online course, Beginning Writers Workshop.  The main reason for this was that it was getting too successful.  My enrollments kept going up, and, well, you can imagine responding to 60 candle descriptions every day for two weeks.  Part of this is my own fault.  I really liked working with everyone.  I kept

My heartfelt apologies to all who love to write and visit this site.  Let me set aside excuses: life traumas, experiences of the dull mind, the attraction of pouting, and all the usual reasons for not writing.  Ugh.  It gets tiresome, and we ALL have been there. The struggle continues.  I’m here, not at my best surely, but still kicking.  Learning does not fade.  I CAN, and I

Just before I _______, the __________ and my ________ arrived to deliver a large __________.  I couldn’t believe the way it ____________ my _______________.  My neighbor, ______________heard me ______________ and came over to give me a hand ________________.  Little did I know that s/he secretly _____________ my ______________.  What a _____________!  The only  thing I could think to do was ______________ the _____________. _____________!

The widow, Althea, put her false teeth in a glass of Mosel wine, wondering if the alcohol might burn off the yellow stains.  Althea refused to use Polident, preferring to eschew all symbols of old age.  Except the wig (horrible hair was her inheritance from her late father’s side), which she stubbornly wore in shades of hot pink champagne.  At 86 she no longer cared what people thought,

Quick note:  My novel, The Old Powers, is available on Amazon in Kindle or paperback format.  The Old Powers is the prequel to Rites of Glory, so if you’re curious about the histories of the characters, it will fill out your understanding. These are fantasy novels, but I refused to let myself be stuck in the notion that there are good guys with evil to overcome.  It was

Stanley Berpsmog spent a lot of time in his room to escape his mean older sister, seven year old Bertha.  Not that his room was all that interesting. She had already broken all his toys she could get her hands on. He lay on his stomach on his bottom sheet, having kicked all of the rest of his bedding to the floor. Now he threw his pillow on

Qumquat Scissors Barf Bauble Raunchy Whoosh! Languid Kelptomaniac I’m sure you have some too.  What are they?