Book Review is Live

My review of Liz Stephens’ stunning memoir The Days Are Gods is live over at The Internet Review of Books. I’ve written about this book before, so I was very pleased when IRB picked up the review. It is definitely worth reading– the book (and the review).

Thoughts On Memoir and Angles of Repose

Finding the angle of repose, that easy place where story flows is no easy task. First, pour your heart out on the page until a pile forms— sufficient text for a memoir, say. (Example: if the memoir has 360 pages, write M=360) Using a life span and brutal honesty, measure the amount of truth versus

Essay is Live at Blue Lyra Review

“The words a father speaks to his children in the privacy of the home are not overheard at the time, but, as in whispering galleries, they will be clearly heard at the end and by posterity.” -Jean Paul Richter, writer (1763-1825)   I am happy to announce that my short nonfiction essay, Death Comes Calling,

Write About What You Know (or, not)

 Write about what you know. That’s the advice we’ve all been given. On the surface this seems obvious, even trite, but I now know writing about what I don’t know can be vastly more intriguing and rewarding. About a year ago, I posted a blog entry about my Uncle Elliott, who was killed in the

Quack! Quack!

My book review of Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them by Donovan Hohn is live at The Internet Review of Books. I loved this book. Aside from the title, which has to be one

Kingfisher

An essay I started a few years ago is in the current Bluestem online quarterly. “Kingfisher” stemmed from a sighting of  one on a morning walk in Costa Rica, where I now live. It is interesting to me how essays evolve. That one started out as pure observation and a memory from my childhood. The

Dog Tags

A small essay I wrote not long ago is live at the Camroc Press Review. It was originally posted here as Lost and Found, but it now has a new home. I couldn’t be happier.

Seven Wheelchairs: A Life Beyond Polio

Gary Presley took his last physical steps in 1959 when he was only seventeen. He contracted Polio from the Salk vaccine. It’s ironic that he got it from the last in the series of immunizations meant to protect him from the very disease he contracted and it happened the very year that the Sabin vaccine,

Online Writing Classes~

I’ve taken my fair share of online writing classes. Some of them have been worth it, but most of them not. The best of them have been given by UCLA Extension. At least the last one I took got me a published piece, and the payout on it more than paid for the class. So