A little something inspired by Suzanne Burke’s “Fiction in A Flash Challenge!” Week #7 . Here is the photo prompt that brought this to mind. Of all the times they’d gone to the Outer Banks, they had never strayed far from shore. They snorkeled. They beachcombed. They took the sail board lessons but never hang […]
Yes, it’s the last Friday of the month, when bloggers unite to post some happy/good apolitical news. It’s all part of the We Are the World Blogfest. As the catch-line and movie title from Monty Python ages ago said–“And now for something completely different.” Some, in the negative camp, often say “no good deed goes […]
Ask me and I’ll tell you, I’m not big on poetry–reading it or writing it. I’ve been exposed to more lately. Made me think that maybe, just maybe, I should putter around with it now and then. We live high atop a New Mexico hill now. We lived and vacationed on the East Coast in […]
Something different—excerpts from Waiting for Westmoreland (WFW) mashed up with blog posts from here. Or, in this case, from an unpublished story. Why, you may ask? It came to me in exercising on a treadmill one day—in the water. It’s an experiment–please tell me what you think. Explore the shift in consciousness/perspective from 2007, when […]
Back in 2013, James Galvin wrote a well-received western novel called Fencing the Sky. This post has only a slight connection to it–a writing prompt from a Zoom-hosted small group of local writers in southwestern New Mexico. This will likely be the extent of it, but who can say. Big Sky Country—where the well-off buy […]
It’s the last Friday of a month–the day to offer good news from the We Are the World Blogfest There are so many people and organizations worthy of recognition during the pandemic sweeping the world. Frontline medical professionals. Support staff at hospitals or health centers. EMTs, food pantries, grocery store workers, delivery people and so […]
A Dark Job What will come of this? Something to build a story on. Sci-fi. Harry always took his coffee with cream and sugar. So what? Sarah finished her black coffee as she always did—while still hot, before stepping out. Out into the cold night, she walked on leaden feet. Feet that felt only dread. […]
A Treasure Trove of Writing Tips– FREE From the Amazon blurb: Writing advice that gets you started and keeps you going. Wouldn’t you love to have authors reveal the secrets of their successes to you? You get that in this collection of essays, many by award-winning authors, and all of them fine practitioners of the craft. […]
Majority of authors ‘hear’ their characters speak, finds study Don’t usually do writing tips here–they usually come on the Views blog. But it’s been busy over there, so a change up. Just finished reading this interesting article in The Guardian. It confirms advice from writers to others: Listen to your characters. Talk to them. Not […]
Pandemic Heroes EMTs, doctors, nurses, and countless other frontline health workers are treating patients and saving lives, many at the expense of their own. You see them on your local or national news, the newspaper or the web. They are the true heroes. There are so many more behind the scenes that make it possible […]