An analysis of my life has shown me time and again how interwoven strength and vulnerability are. I can see times in my life when I struggled to be strong and when I hid my vulnerability. I have often put up a tough exterior to hide my incredibly fragile vulnerability…

A name identifies a character and provides clues to ethnicity, gender, and familial relationships among other thing. Paying attention to the names assigned characters might seem secondary; however, those names can affect how a reader views each character’s personality and identifies with the character. A name creates a relationship…

Recently during a conversation, a friend described me as being passionate about my beliefs. This was stated as a compliment, and I took it as one even though it made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Over the next few days, I reflected on this statement “you’re passionate about your beliefs”…

April is designated National Poetry Month. We are encouraged to celebrate poetry. by reading poetry, writing poetry, and sharing poetry. All poetry all the time for a month. Then in May, we go back to our normal attitude toward poetry, whatever attitude that might be. I’m fairly certain the intent…

As my husband drove our gold Ford F150 Lariat out of Lexington, Kentucky turning off Man O’ War Boulevard on to Winchester Road, the landscape changed from stores and businesses to horse farms with black fences and pristine green pastures fronting beautiful homes — the kind of homes reminiscent of…

Not many people send cards these days, or at least not many people I know do. I used to make my own cards. I wrote the poems and used photos taken by either my husband or me. It was fun to create cards for family, friends, and colleagues. I sent…

Far too many people seem to think there should be no consequences for their actions no matter what while also thinking other people should face consequences for theirs. I don’t understand this thinking. I was raised to always be prepared for the consequences, good or bad, for my actions, good…

Recently while looking for a way to address my waning ability to focus, I remembered a presentation on ways to get back on track when one’s writing suffers I’d been asked to give a few years ago. I dug through my files and found it. As I read it, I…

Sometimes we’re going about life and all seems to be running smoothly. The bills are paid. Work is going well. There’s even a few dollars in the savings account. Family and friends are healthy and happy. Pets are doing well. We even have time to play. Life…