My mom told me I learned my color wheel before I learned my ABCs. It surprises me now how I struggle to use color in my work now. In a high school art class, we had to draw a scene and then paint it. I loved my pencil drawing. It was of my best friend …
Someone else already came up with the challenge for being creative every day. So now I'm going to join in. I've had too many days in a row of just doing housework, schoolwork, or napping, and important as those things are, they can't be all that fill my days. Certainly teaching takes creativity. And I …
Home To be honest, I don't think my dad has any connection to the summer solstice. He isn't one to take note of such days. He's a quiet Catholic. He never talks about his beliefs and hasn't been to mass in 40 years. About ten years ago, I saw that he'd sent a check to …
I'm reading Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses. It's a book I wish I'd had years ago. It's a book I needed to read. And it's a reminded that no matter how much you think you know or how openminded you think you are, there is always light to shine in the dark, …
I love StoryaDay. Often when I post about it, someone tells me why they can't do it. And there are many valid reasons for not taking part. Nothing is for everyone. (Well, air. That's generally for everyone.) So my love of it and participation in it is not me knocking on your door like a …
As some of you know, I created a Patreon. You may also know StoryaDay May is about to start. And the pandemic is taking a toll on all of us, one way or another. I'll keep making things and writing stories regardless. Some things I share here. Some things I sell on Etsy. Other things …
So so so often I work on a story, rewrite several times, put it aside and come back to it to rewrite again, finally feel like it's finished and share it, only to have panic and suddenly realize how much I got wrong. Such feelings are common for many of the writers I know. Perhaps …
A home that caught my eye in Salem. Definitely not the house I grew up in. In grad school, I had a final exam with a one word question. We had to write about this one word. (For the life of me, I can't remember how much time were were given, but it was at …
I love the lake. The lake doesn't love me. Dad bought his house on the lake before I was born. The lake lives in my earliest memories. In childhood, dad would make me volcanoes in the beach sand. We had our best conversations on the dock. As a teen, I sat on the dock to …
I was planning to write about the winter storm here in Texas, the surprise of being without electricity or heat from 2am Monday to 1am thereabouts Thursday. We didn't lose water, thank goodness, but plenty of my friends and students did. Some people are still without water. Aside from the love, dogs provide heat! We …
