It’s the calm examination of the smallest parts that gives one the ability to wildly write about the whole.
A writer must take a moment in time, and smash it to pieces small as atoms, then glue that moment back together so no one notices it was ever broken. Like a kid who’s taken his [...]

A couple of days ago, I bought a new outfit for Hawaii. I’ve never been to Hawaii. Royal blue golf shorts the color of those lagoon pictures you see in National Geographic. I have no specific plans to go to Hawaii. A white Annika Sorenstam top that slides on like a dream. [...]

Hold soldiers in your breath.
Grow a carrot and
Make soup of it.
Read a book
By candlelight.
Let a glacier
Fill your cup.
Paint your fingernails
Blue.
Find a bunny and whisper
In its ears.
Hold another soldier in your breath;
They fall so quickly these days.
Kiss a puppy’s nose.
Be unexpected.
Find a possibility and make it
Yours.
Be your own Easter and
Rise.

These are my hands.  They are small and knowledgeable; they know hard work, and they luxuriate in leisure.  They’ve enjoyed health, and they’ve been stricken with pain.  At times, these hands travel blithely over a computer keyboard spilling out words with grace and ease; other times they suffer whole lapses of unfruitful days with crushing [...]

“Henceforth I ask not good fortune. I myself am good fortune.”
Walt Whitman

I’m struck by the notion that we represent our own good fortune. Writers often consider that our fortunes lie in the hands of others. Agents. Editors. Various publicists, booksellers and librarians. Readers who shell out good money for our stories. Of course, every [...]

He flies through the house, puppy paws going a mile a minute, his mouth smiling, his fur waving every which way. Play with me. Play! I swear, he actually laughs!
What else would a writer do, then, but stop all else to play, and train … and clean up after her new puppy? [...]