Art Is Good For You
“The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s … Continued
Art Is In Every Book You Read
posted in: A Writer's Life, Between Two Worlds, Blog, Books, Love, life, small things, The Golden Manuscripts | 0
Art is in every book you read. Marcel Duchamp, notorious in the art world for having successfully argued that a urinal is art—thus ushering in the Avant Garde—would probably agree with me. Monsieur Duchamp aside, images are both essential and … Continued
Aimless? In A Rut? Haiku yourself out of it.
Haikuing is fun and it only needs 17 syllables, give or take. I have haikued in the past, but I’ve nearly forgotten doing it until I came across this quote from Gilbert K. Chesterton: I’m in a rut, at the … Continued
Paris, Je T’Aime: Looking Back
I cannot say exactly when I fell in love with Paris. I suppose I came by it gradually. Before I knew that this love had seized me irrevocably, I thought that if there was one place in the world I … Continued
An October Winter in Paris
We woke up to some sunshine one Saturday morning in October. Sunshine and smiles—for me, they go together. In the afternoon, we went out, hoping the sun would hold. It didn’t, and we got caught in a near-freezing drizzle. The … Continued
Bohemian Artists, Mid-1800s
Bohemian. A word often uttered with a mix of admiration, confusion, and mockery. Usually we think of a bohemian as someone who’s unconventional, footloose and carefree. Quite likely, she’s also an artist or maybe, a writer. A place called Bohemia … Continued
Stark Truth: Behind the Beautiful Forevers
My latest novel, The Shade Under the Mango Tree, takes the reader to a foreign culture. I’ve traveled to Asia, Europe, and parts of North Africa so it might have been inevitable that I would write about experiencing other cultures … Continued
Our Surreal Lives in a Virtual World
Pandemic life is strange. We’re forced to live even more in a virtual world. I watch as my niece’s two little girls argue over who gets to use the iPad first. Their mother has ruled that each only gets thirty … Continued
A Moveable Feast–Hemingway’s Enduring Legacy On Writing
“But what if it is … only that you are trying to use words that people would actually use? That are the only words that can make the story come true and that you must use them? You have to … Continued
Notes On Book 5: The Shade Under the Mango Tree
When I do blog tours, like the one I’m doing with the release of my latest novel,The Shade Under the Mango Tree, at least one blogger would ask me if any of my own experience makes it into the book. … Continued
Bodega Bay Days
The light in Bodega Bay amazes. While it can display its full intense spectrum, casting a rainbow of shadows on everything it floods, it’s never harsh. It caresses the ocean with shimmering silver or imbues it with dark impenetrable blue. … Continued
Una Duessa: Margaret’s Duality in Mr. Thornton’s Eyes
Mr. Thornton repeatedly dreams of Margaret as Una Duessa in Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South. He dreamt of her; he dreamt she came dancing towards him with outspread arms and with a lightness and gaiety which made him loathe her … Continued
Margaret Hale, John Thornton: An Enduring Love
As seen through the eyes of Margaret Hale, John Thornton, the hero of Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel North and South, is tall, broad-shouldered, about thirty, with a face that is neither exactly plain, nor yet handsome, nothing remarkable. To this perception, … Continued
Losing Your Soulmate: Writing While Grieving
I started a book February of 2018, hoping I could finish it and publish it before the end of the year. But as I have said often enough, life intrudes, sometimes in ways you hope it doesn’t. How do you … Continued
A Life Well-Lived: A Son’s Tribute To A Father
Rich, my husband, passed away just before Christmas. I was and still am in denial. And in deep mourning. I can’t focus. I’m aimless, like a log floating at sea with nowhere to go. But here’s my son paying tribute … Continued