Revisions: a promising word that grows out of a hopeful thought: to see again. I’ve spent the better part of the past six weeks revising pages I’d “finished” two or three times already. More than once, I have gone still before my computer screen and thanked Allison Hunter who asked me to look again; to see them anew. Those pages … Read More
My Writing Process Blog Tour
Just when I was trying to come up with a blog post, my friend Pamela Hunt reached out and “tagged” me for a blog tour all about the thing I was having a really hard time doing that day: writing. That’s how things have worked with Pamela from the outset. She is a generous champion of my work who has … Read More
Voice: Lost and Found
Hello again. It’s me. I’ve gone missing since early February, at least from this page. Those who’ve been blogging much longer than I have already know what I’ve discovered: use that voice or lose it. For a host of very good but also not very good reasons, I’ve not written here for the past five weeks or so. I’ve missed … Read More
Journey to Now, Again
I read MAGICAL JOURNEY last summer and shared my thoughts and a free copy about it here. The paperback version has just been released and Katrina Kenison is offering several opportunities to win a copy of this book and others free. On January 29, we drew the name of Misha Gericke of South Africa as the winner of Magical Journey from the readers … Read More
Confessions of a Bathroom Reader
Confession #1. This is for my mother who will not be shocked when she hears that yes, all those times I disappeared into the bathroom when it was my turn to wash the dinner dishes, I was reading. Long after I had any legitimate reason to be in the downstairs bathroom, I was poring through the pages of Gone With … Read More
Hitting Bottom and Calling it Home
Thirty one years ago, Jim Mastro applied for a job as a seal trainer at the San Diego Zoo. He didn’t get it so he went to work in Antarctica. For a year. When I met Jim earlier this year at the Southern California Writer’s Conference, I knew none of this. If I had, I would have abandoned what I … Read More
Journeys and Thanks
Dear Fellow Travelers, With my last post “A Journey to Now,” I wrapped up a month-long celebration of journeys and books. Each post focused on a particular journey and the book that either took me or came along for the ride. Because this month also encompassed my birthday, always a milestone in life’s journey, I celebrated by sharing the books … Read More
A Journey To Now
In May I was feeling the loss of an old friend very deeply. It was his birthday month and a year since the last time I’d seen him. May was the time he’d normally be wrapping up his training for the Mount Washington Road Race in New Hampshire’s Presidential Range. Unable to run last year, he and I made breakfast … Read More
Strangers in a Strange Land
Michael Valentine Smith may have prevented a murder back in the summer of 1974 when my brother and I were stranded in Port Angeles, Washington for nearly ten days. In a Pinto station wagon. In the rain. It was day five or six. I remember the relentless drumming of water against the car roof. I remember waiting to take my … Read More
Road Trip, One Page at a Time
With this post, I begin a month-long celebration of journeys and books. Each post will focus on a particular journey and the book that either took me or came along for the ride. Because this month also encompasses my birthday, always a milestone in life’s journey, I want to celebrate by sharing the books I mention here. Each post will … Read More