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How Debbie Macomber Inspired Me
Last week, at the last minute, I signed up to join a Zoom call through the Baltimore County Public Library with author Debbie Macomber. It was the best thing I did for my writing career last week, and I’ll tell you why. If you don’t recognize the name Debbie Macomber, you may in a minute. She’s a bestselling author. Her genre is women’s fiction/romance. Her stories have been picked up by the Hallmark Channel (if you watched Cedar Cove, that’s Debbie’s brainchild, as are some of the Christmas movies on the network, including Trading Christmas, Mrs. Miracle, and Dashing Through the Snow). Her books can be found everywhere—at libraries, bookstores,…
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Travel Writing: From Teaching It to Doing It
You’ll have to forgive me for just getting around to sharing this; my family and I were on vacation last week. This month, I had the opportunity to write for a travel publication called marylandroadtrips.com. After teaching feature writing at my university for many years (having formerly been an editor of a magazine) with aspects of travel writing incorporated into the course, I was thrilled at the opportunity to do some travel writing of my own. If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know that I often blog about my trips here, writing it in feature style, to use as a learning tool in the classroom. Writing for…
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Cartwheels on the Beach
I’m sitting here on the sandy beach typing this blog post into my iPhone. I’m marveling at children doing cartwheels on the beach. In my present physical state of enduring back and hip problems, if I tried to do a cartwheel, I would either majorly embarrass myself or majorly hurt myself. In either case, the choice not to attempt one is best. Nevertheless, watching the energy of these girls as they twirl and tumble at the edge of the ocean has taken me back in time—to vacations with my own grandparents, aunts and uncles, and immediate family, and to twirling and tumbling myself. To throwing to football and riding bikes.…
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Writing Away
I haven’t been as diligent about writing for my blog as I have been in the past. It makes me feel a little guilty, because I’ve always put so much energy and time into my blog. However, there are good reasons for my absence, so allow me to explain: The semester ended in mid-May. I can honestly say that after working in education throughout a pandemic and teaching a full load + of courses online, it was more challenging than normal. Obviously, we have all been affected by this situation and our work lives were altered quite a bit, but the energy it took to produce, deliver, and grade remotely…
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Is the Power of Positive Thinking Real?
Remember the book called The Secret? It’s a book in the self-help genre written by Rhonda Byrne that basically states that the law of attraction is real—that positive thoughts or energy attracts other positive thoughts and energy. It goes further to express that the power of positive thinking can help you achieve what you want or imagine and will it into existence. Some may believe these things are possible; others may not. I am in the camp that believes it can happen. But then again, I’m a pretty positive person. I don’t think I could be a teacher if I were not. Earlier this year, and after many years of teaching…
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The Way to a Character’s Heart
Confession: When I’m diving into characters and trying to get at the heart of them, I sometimes write poetry as my characters to get inside their heads. For example, if a character faces heartbreak or loss or a hardship, along with character sketches, I may write a little poem or two from various characters’ perspectives. It would be as if they would write the poem themselves. I’ve always written poetry for fun, and I enjoy writing poems that uncover emotion. And while I’ve only published one small collection of poems to date in The Postcard, I continue to write them and keep them to myself…just for these purposes. Today, I’m…
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The Cicadas Are Coming! The Cicadas Are Coming!
To mimic Paul Revere, we all know the following: “The cicadas are coming! The cicadas are coming!” In Maryland, they’re already here. Who remembers the 2004 onslaught of the cicadas? We were living in Ellicott City at the time, and I remember my toddler and four-year-old playing in the back yard and being terrified of the insects. The Brood X type, with their menacing red eyes, had crawled out of the soil. My friends, it’s been 17 years, and they are crawling out again. Apparently, billions of these things have fed underground all this time, primarily on tree roots, only to emerge now. This particular Brood X type is found…
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You Won’t Want to Miss “The Scoop”
One of the best aspects of social media is the ability to connect with people in your hometown and general area. My years of posting on Instagram have connected me with some great people, and last week, at the ribbon cutting for a new bookstore called Park Books and Literacy Lab, I got the opportunity to chat with Ryan Sneddon from Naptown Scoop. Both Ryan and I were at the bookstore covering “the story.” He was reporting on it for Naptown Scoop, and I was covering it for a local magazine. (I’ll share the story once it’s published). But the fact is, Ryan and I have been “connected” via Instagram…
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Finding Italy…and Paris
It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Italy. I’ve never been to Paris. The closest I came to speaking French in another country was a visit to Quebec when I was in 7th grade. I began taking French classes that year—in 7th grade. Later, in high school, Mademoiselle Hammerstrom had our class read Les Misérables in French. In college, I took French classes as well. Last week, my husband and I started watching Stanley Tucci’s program Searching for Italy. My passport is updated and I’m ready to go. When it’s safe to travel again, I need to go to both of these countries. I make my father-in-law laugh…
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Well, it’s been a while…
Hello, there! I’ve been absent here for quite some time, and you may notice some changes. After 10 years of blogging, I have changed the name of the blog to reflect my author name. I thought it was about time. Nevertheless, taking a step away from blogging these past few months has been very good for me. I’ve revamped and recalibrated and have been able to focus on writing my books, as I’ve just finished writing and am now editing my fifth novel, tentatively called The Letters in the Books. Probably my most challenging story to tell thus far, it focuses on four main characters who are down on their…
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Show recommendations to binge-watch
Let me first start this blog post by saying this: It doesn’t matter if you know all the characters depicted in the writings of Charles Dickens; it doesn’t matter if you like or have ever played chess; and it doesn’t matter if you’ve ever worked in a senior facility. The shows I’m about to recommend to you are all wonderful distractions during our ongoing lockdowns. First up, DICKENSIAN. Available on Amazon Prime, Dickensian is a wonderfully done “who done it” romp through Dickens’ London as the characters from all of his books come alive as they cross paths and interconnect in this 10-part series. The biggest complaint I have about…
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Here’s Hoping for a Brighter 2021
Happy end of 2020 friends. Earlier, I went for a walk, cleared all the cobwebs of 2020 out of my brain as best as I could, and I’ve made room for more positivity in 2021. I’m not exactly sure there’s going to be a switch flipped and all will be normal starting tomorrow, but adjusting the mindset can be helpful. With what I’ve dealt with over the last three months, I’m hopeful that 2021 will bring some brightness. I don’t know about you, but when I finish writing a novel, it’s tough to jump right in and begin the daunting task of editing and reworking the darn thing. I need…
