reading list

a brief history of time
In most books of poetry, I put a little check in the Table of Contents by the poems I really like. In Shaindel Beers‘ first collection of poetry, A Brief History of Time, I liked so many poems that I switched to marking the poems I didn’t love with a ti

writing retreat
My writing group is meeting in the Napa Valley this weekend to write. Usually we meet to read and critique each other’s work. On our breaks we take the waters or a mud bath or a culinary excursion to Mustard’s, Greystone, or Ad Hoc. I am encouraged by the little frog outside who stops croaking if I open my door and from the shapes and colors inside and out.

what’s jackson browne got to do with it?
November 15, 2009 Columbus, GA I thought if I wrote about it here either I might figure it out or maybe one of you would. You see, I’m working on my third piece of fiction where he tries to make an appearance. Which he in fact did last night in Columbus! In a 2001 (early, early) draft of my first novel, I opened every chapter with a few words from a Jackson Browne song. In July of that year,

snooping
I discovered Snoop by Sam Gosling in a note by @piscivorous on Facebook. Its subtitle is What Your Stuff Says About You. I was interested in this book not only for what it could tell me about how to portray fictional characters but also for what it could tell me about me. Chapter One begins with the story of John Steinbeck taking a shower in a hotel room before it had been clean

waiting for me
This leaf, propped up like it is here on its stem and all by itself, was waiting for me when I opened the front door yesterday morning. Do you think it thought I wasn’t noticing? I moved it for a moment over by the pumpkin… Then I brought it inside where