"You're talking about the American Dream. You find something that you love, then you twist it and torture it, trying to find a way to make money at it, spend a lifetime doing that, and in the end, you can't find a trace of what you started out loving." ~ Hope Floats (Justin) How many people do you Continue Reading
If I Had a Mantra…
It'd be simple (mantra in the definition of a "truism" rather than some Hindu type religious thing). Life is short; live it fully. This is the essence of Thoreau's words in Walden. “I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of Continue Reading
What If…
The glass is just a glass? What if it isn't half anything? I mean, it was a nice little object lesson once upon a time. Now it's just annoying. I hate it when people ask me if I see life with a half full or half empty glass. Wanna know the truth? I don't see it either way. It's life, not a Continue Reading
Dystopia
It's huge. I mean, something had to replace vampires eventually, right? Susan Collins with her Hunger Games trilogy ensured that the dystopian genre received renewed interest. The good news is that usually this brings out new ideas and interest as other authors are inspired--sometimes driven-- to Continue Reading
1000 Hours of Research Ahead
Editing Schmediting
I have a new theory. Editing is overrated. I mean, we're all about being "real" these days, right? People get all bent out of shape with the nice perfect blogs with the gorgeous magazine quality pictures and nary a stray hair or dirty sock in sight, right? People want to hear about how you Continue Reading
Writing Prompt= Short Story
I don't really know what they're all about. I've seen them mentioned in books about writing and figured they were ways to get you over writer's block or something. Since I've managed to escape that malady to date, I've never looked into them. However, yesterday one of my new favorite blogs had Continue Reading
Blogging: the Ugly Truth
You know what? There's a lot out there about "how to blog." I didn't read much of it when I started. Someone made a blog for me, and well, I started writing. I didn't read how to appeal to readers and all that stuff. I just wrote what was burning on my heart that day. Sometimes it was something Continue Reading
Lazy Saturdays…
I've always wondered about the idea of a "lazy Saturday." See, when I was a kid, people didn't have very many "lazy" weekend days at all. Saturdays were for catching up on work. They did things like yard work, housework, or projects. Moms would take the kids out to buy new shoes while dad washed Continue Reading
Horrors!
Ten years ago, if you had asked me what genre I'd never write, I would have instantly said, "Science fiction." Why? Well, because my only experiences with Sci-fi were things like Star Wars, Star Trek, and similar works. Not my favorite things. Ok, that's a bit of an understatement. I couldn't Continue Reading
Z-eke
One of the first minor characters I ever created was Zeke Sullivan. He evolved from a name into a dear man. He doesn't get a lot of "face time" in the Aggie books, but he's still there even when you don't see him. You can almost feel him in the background, ready to lend a helping hand if asked. Continue Reading
Y-esterday
It's not just a Beatles song, you know! How often do you hear the phrase, "It seems like just yesterday..." So, I thought I'd do a nice list of "yesterday" memories... Yesterday I put on my hand-smocked mouse dress and went to my first day of kindergarten. Yesterday I learned to ride a bike Continue Reading
