Contemplating the opening words of my manuscript. I want to be descriptive, motivating and alluring, yet not too vague. And that's not meant to be an oxymoron, but rather to entice readers to keep reading, planting seeds of my theme in the hopes they will grow and weave their roots throughout my story. TO A TREE “The time has come [...]
Some here say to just wait a few minutes and the weather could change in an instant. There’s nothing quite like the seasons in Chicago. Some inhabitants surrender to the intolerance, moving elsewhere, shaking their heads. Not me, though. The seasons in Chicago are like yin and yang, or the Cubs and Sox, the Bears and Packers, the Mayor and [...]
I have been diligent for almost a week in rewriting my memoir manuscript, "Under the Birch Tree." I've acknowledged open doors signaling me that it's time to look up, and not at me feet, and walk through the timing as it is opportunity for progress. It's time to pick the book up once again, leaving behind the work of polishing [...]
Do you take a look at your feet – ever? Or maybe you only notice them when you go to fit yourself with a new pair of shoes. But do you really look at them? Do you notice changes from chubby feet as a kid to now with slender toes and narrow arch? If only your feet could narrate a [...]
In Jill Jepson's latest blog post, she suggests we let anger be our writing guide. Jill, author of blog, Writing a Sacred Path, tells us to listen to what our anger is telling us. Is it evoking a fear? Is it defining our boundaries? The more we write, the more we can discover the sources of our anger. In doing [...]
I’m going to write a book report. Some of you may not know what I’m talking about but can probably deduce that I’ll be writing a report on a book. When I had book report assignments in school, I had to discern what the story was about. Otherwise known as “theme,” sometimes I thought I didn’t really get the entire [...]
I grew up attending Holy Cross Catholic grade school in Deerfield where having a conversation with God, or “maintaining a dialogue” as the nuns told us, was as important to our education as getting good grades. I was told that if you prayed, evoking God in your “dialogue,” you will be okay. Trust God and you won’t fear anything. I [...]
TO A TREE “The time has come for us to move on Let us nest that time in the Bottom of the tree To grow with each new branch Letting our leaves bud with Each new spring The nest is our home, the branches Our foundation It is the universal home of God For I am set in the ways [...]
Distractions in my head keep time with my travels of foot. Like any good shadow, it clings to my thoughts when I am alone or mingling with others, in my work room or in a public arena.My fidgeting brain tracks sensory stimulation of movement, sound and smell like any great horned owl zeros in on a tiny mouse or a [...]
“The Deerfield Commons, it used to be over there, that whole block, with Waukegan and Deerfield roads fencing it in,” I muttered with a heavy sigh looking west as I drove north on Waukegan Road. I say it every time I drive into Deerfield, where I grew up, and pass that intersection. I am flooded with memories and pictures of [...]