Recent Articles
Aces: stem cells of the Tarot
August 27, 20103 Comments
Unless you’ve been living under a shell (which I’m often accused of, but this crossed my desk so I’m actually given money to pay attention), you’ve heard about this week’s “stop order“ on federally funded research involving human embryonic stem cells. It just blows my mind how we can have this engine for potential at our [...]
striving for satisfaction
August 21, 20106 Comments
I want to focus and be happy this coming week. Ideally today (sure would be nice!). Maybe the best thing I can do is to focus on my home life again — my husband, my daughter… I s’pose I could even do some garden work (yuck!). This would surely make C happy, get L outside [...]
how does your story roll?
August 17, 20101 Comment
We all know it when we read one. A masterpiece, that is. A fully developed, well-plotted, delightfully populated novel that keeps you up into the wee hours of a work night. The kind of story that makes you long for the days you were a kid huddling under the covers with a flashlight, praying that [...]
Happy Birthday, lil’ Lil!
August 16, 2010No Comments
My girl turns four today. I’ve been overwhelmed with flashbacks to when she was born. All but the hard stuff, of course. And I’m having a strange craving for potato salad. Lord knows I never got to eat that other batch. Littles’ birthday party at The Little Gym was a resounding success yesterday. All of [...]
acceptable mysticism?
August 13, 20102 Comments
Of all the mysteries on earth, faith and its practices seem to be the most controversial. War, famine, prejudice… so much pain has been caused in the name of God. If I were him, I’d be pretty pissed. One of my favorite books on the subject isn’t a great theological text. It’s a children’s book [...]
tarot: a matter of perspective?
August 3, 201012 Comments
So I didn’t talk about it much at the time, but last fall I discovered a book called Tarot for Writers by Corrine Kenner. I just fell in love with the concept of using tarot cards to break through writer’s block, deepen characters, design scenes, and add in extra layers — extra dimensions — of [...]
an ode to Lowcountry writing
July 23, 2010No Comments
Anyone lucky enough to live in the Lowcountry of South Carolina — or perhaps dumb enough to suffer through the summers here — knows how water affects every facet of life. We fill the muggiest days of the year here with trips to the beach, sunset cruises with family and friends, morning strolls along the [...]
multi-faceted characters
July 15, 2010No Comments
I’ve been thinking a lot about characters in novels, not only in how they’re portrayed throughout their story, but with the expectations placed upon them. The way I see it, there are four major areas for a writer to keep in mind while developing a character: physical, emotional, character arc, and, of course, the readers’ [...]
So, I decided to swing by Starbucks yesterday. My first iced coffee of the season was long overdue. I’d been craving a tall one for a while now, but with everything that’s happened over the past couple of weeks I just haven’t had the time. (I’ve managed to keep the sordid details from you; hence, [...]
summer in SC…
June 23, 2010No Comments
is plastic ice cubes in a glass of primo pinot. With a My Little Pony looking on. … The past few months — since January, really — have been pretty rough. From taking on h.s. thesis & homework oversight, to Grinding through an intensive revision course (Holly Lisle’s How to Revise Your Novel course [affiliate [...]
gearing up for spring
April 17, 20101 Comment
After lunch today, Lillian and I made our first (of many) trip to Abide-A-While Garden Center to stock up on plants for our veggie garden. I brought home $33 Abide-A-Bucks, if that tells you anything about how much we spent. But that included two watering cans and a sun hat for Lillian (which I ended [...]
yard work
April 13, 2010No Comments
You’d think we were getting ready to sell our house or something, what with all the work we’re planning on putting in this season. We just contracted with a friend’s contractor service to clean and re-paint the back porch, and replace the screens with claw-proof (it better be!) mesh. He also re-caulked all our window [...]
hurricane shutters
April 6, 20101 Comment
After threatening to do it since we moved here in 2003, we finally sucked it up and had hurricane shutters installed. Aren’t they pretty? The 1/3 bahama shutters for the dining room bay window are due in a few days, which should really polish off the look. We figured, Hugo destroyed the area in ’89, [...]
Happy Easter!
April 4, 2010No Comments
After breakfast in the parish hall, all the kids participated in the Flowering of the Cross for the service. We got a great shot of them just before they went tearing off before the bugs launched into killer mode.