Clik here to view.
Writing-Tip Wednesday: Real-World Influences On Our Fiction
It’s also possible, particularly with our world as fraught as it is right now, that the sheer gravity of real-world events and conflicts will pull your story in directions you don’t want it to go....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photo Friday: Reflections of Fall
Yesterday, I hiked out to a pair of lakes near our house — ones I have photographed several times before this year. I was hoping to find calm waters, interesting clouds, and a bit of fall color. I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Monday Musings: Feeding Birds, How to Get Started
Earlier this year, in the midst of spring bird migration, I wrote about my lifelong love of birding. I shared with you what birding has meant to me over the course of my life, and at the end I made a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photo Friday: A Bit of Late Fall Color
Fall foliage is well past peak color here on the Cumberland Plateau, as it is in most parts of the country. But there are still vivid splashes of red and yellow clinging to branches. This Red Maple, a...
View ArticleMonday Musings: Random Thoughts About Thanksgiving
I love Thanksgiving. It is, and has long been, one of my two favorite holidays of the year, along with Passover, the Jewish holiday that marks the coming of spring. I don’t think it’s a coincidence...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Monday Musings: Our New Game Nights
About a month ago, Nancy and I decided that we had been watching too much television during our evenings together, and that we needed something else to pass the time in this age of Covid and a world...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photo Friday: It’s the Most Wonderful Time Of the Year!
As I mentioned in a recent post about Thanksgiving (which covered the December holidays as well) I come from a Jewish family and still consider myself Jewish, though we are not at all a religious...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photo Friday: I Was Reluctant To Share This Image This Year
I have posted a photo like this one in past years on or just after the first night of Hanukkah (which was last night). Nancy and I come from different backgrounds. I was a suburban kid from a...
View ArticleMonday Musings: The Hardest, Most Wondrous, Most Creative Thing I Do
Interesting title for a post, right? Makes you wonder what this week’s essay might be about. Spoiler Alert: The post has nothing at all to do with writing… Parenting is hard. It’s hard when our...
View ArticleMonday Musings: 2020 is the New 1968
Putting on my historian’s cap… There are certain years in modern history that stand out as significant all on their own. They are so fraught, so filled with resonance and import, that they become both...
View ArticleMonday Musings: Memories of “New Year’s” Passed
I thought the ball would, you know, drop. As in fall. As in have a bit of velocity. I thought maybe it was made of glass and would shatter. THAT would be cool. I will confess that I don’t usually enjoy...
View ArticleWriting-Tip Wednesday: Why Do We Create?
I just reread my first post of the year, when I first discussed my weekly blogging plans, and my goals for the months to come. I closed the post with “Happy 2020. May it be your best year yet.” How did...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Photo Friday: Wishes For 2021
At long last, 2020 is in the world’s rearview mirror, and good riddance. We have a couple of weeks of craziness to get through, and a pandemic to beat back. But I enter this new year optimistic, for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Creative Friday: A Rare Treat
A week ago this morning, we woke up to a few inches of fresh snow. Now, this may not seem like a big deal to you, but for us, down here in Tennessee, snow is a too-rare treat. Even when we do get a...
View ArticleCreative Friday: “Willin'” by Little Feat
This week, for Creative Friday, I offer a song. Many, many years ago, my oldest brother turned me on to Little Feat, and they quickly became my favorite band. While in college, playing with my dear...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Monday Musings: The Legacy of Hank Aaron
Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron died last week. He was, of course, a baseball legend, the former home run king. He was also a civic leader, a philanthropist, and a Civil Rights activist. And he’s been an idol...
View ArticleMonday Musings: What Memories of My Mom Have To Do With COVID
My mother’s birthday is this coming Friday, February 5. I’ve written about her before in this space. I’ve marked past birthdays with Facebook posts and the like. But somehow this year, with her...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Creative Friday: A Photo, and Thoughts About My Mom
I took this photo back around Christmas, while on a photo walk with my wonderful friend, John Willis. Like me, he is an avid amateur photographer, and he gets out on photo walks almost daily. Before...
View ArticleMonday Musings: Sports and COVID
Last year, on the weekend of the Super Bowl, I wrote a post for that following Monday about the power of sports in our culture. In it, I noted that the Big Game was one of the few truly shared...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Creative Friday: More Snow Photos!
This has been an unusual winter for us. We’ve had several snowfalls, none of them huge, but almost all of them significant enough to turn our pretty little town into a wonderland. This past weekend was...
View Article