A month and a half ago, I wrote this entry, about how this time of the year usually means the annual writing retreat becomes quite a focus for me. At the time of that last entry, I wasn’t sure if a retreat would happen this year. But…the friend I go to East Texas with each […]
This Time of Year
This time of year is usually when a friend and I plan our annual writing retreat. We didn’t go anywhere last spring because…well…a worldwide pandemic kinda got in the way. And while my friend (who quit corporate life to become a nurse) is vaccinated and I get the first round tomorrow, it’s still not likely […]
The Year That Was…
And so we come to the end of not just another year, but one of the years! It’s not a year I’d hope to repeat, but it was not without its moments. Obviously, the big thing was the pandemic and just…all that out there! (You know what I mean.) For me, it was a year […]
A Matter of Trust
The other morning, I read this essay by Hilary Mantel about writers learning to trust themselves. It’s full of gems like this: You must recognize, though, that once you enter this life, you are at the disposal of your book around the clock. And there are no holidays. And this: Writing is a long game […]
On Limitations
[I wrote this 10 days ago and guess I didn’t set it to publish. Still holds up, so here it is…] * * * [The idea for this entry came from this Muddy Colors entry by Justin Gerard about his ideal art space. The gist: he has a fancy desk, but he usually does his […]
The Way We Talk
The two worst years of my life were junior high school. (More than the years in which close relatives died; more than the year I found out a brain tumor blew up in my head and was bleeding into itself and making me go blind in my right eye.) Those two years in junior high […]
September Silence 2020
It’s that time again: September, when I take a month-long social media break and focus on writing. A friend dubbed it “The September Silence,” and it’s a fitting name because that’s what I seek this month each year: a quieter time to fall into one of the things I love most in life. While September […]
Reading for Thought
This morning during breakfast, I read this article about what it means to teach high school writers about being published. There was one line, from a student working on a literary publication for high schoolers, that particularly hit me: Editing for Polyphony forced me to slow down. I began to realize that previously, my eyes […]
Taking One Last Leap
In one hour and forty-nine minutes, it will be 2020 in North Texas. But I’ve mentioned before that I consider September my new year. And so, this entry is not a recap of the year…nor is it a list of resolutions and goals I wish to accomplish in 2020. At the moment, with the exception […]
What Is Literary Fiction
In the weeks following a short story’s release on my fiction podcast, Not About Lumberjacks, I record a short behind-the-scenes audio essay about the story. Sometimes I focus on the mechanics of the story or what went into recording, while other times, I focus on something thematic surrounding the story. Most recently, I spent six […]
May 2019 Writing Recap
May was a month for some big changes. I not only started a new job on May 1, but it was also the day I started working on the new book. The new book is the second book in a three-book series about a girl born in a circus in 1923 — and her rise […]
Seventh Annual Writing Retreat
On May 19, a friend and I headed to East Texas for the seventh annual writing retreat. It was a return to the location of year five’s retreat: Daingerfield State Park. Upon arrival, we realized Texas State Parks no longer provide bedding and towels, so…being in the middle of nowhere meant a bit of a […]
Retreating to Daingerfield State Park
It’s spring in Texas. That means allergies and storms are common and oppressive heat is right around the corner… Waiting… (With a hot knife…) But it also means it’s time for the annual writing retreat! (Woohoo!!!) Daingerfield State Park This is not the first retreat at Daingerfield State Park. And I suspect it won’t be […]
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