Category: Writing

Southern Writer from New England

For some time now I’ve been confused over my obsession with southern writers. I get all conflicted trying to figure out if I want to be a New Englander writing in the South, or a Southerner writing about New England. Sometimes I can’t figure out if my story is about characters from my New England … Continue reading Southern Writer from New England

One of the Famous Authors from “My Island”

This video about the author Ernest Gann has many scenes from "my island" - San Juan Island in Washington state, where I lived for many years. A prolific author and artist, Gann always followed his passions - flying, boats, jumping out of an airplane in his 70's. Gann wrote numerous top selling books, including "Fate … Continue reading One of the Famous Authors from “My Island”

Writing & Passion

I am probably passionate about too many different things. It often feels like my brain is composed of a large bag of marbles, and someone has dropped them on a hard surface, causing all of them to pop, jump and scatter about, making it tough to focus on any one particular topic. I truly admire people who are so passionate about one particular subject that they zone in on it to the exclusion of everything else...

Writers’ Solitude

Have you ever had the opportunity to experience total solitude for a week? Time to focus on your writing and exist in a world where it's not even necessary to block the rest of the world out because for that chunk of time, the rest of the world doesn't exist in your life? I had this experience for the first time recently when I attended a retreat at the Ricardo Palma House...

The Observer – Writing in Progress

“You took the bus? Weren’t you the only non-native person riding?” Isabel is shocked to learn that the observer rides busses. The look of concern, if not outright horror, on her face makes it clear that this is one thing about the city which she has never learned. “I could have sent my driver for you. Weren’t you afraid of being robbed?” Robbed. On a crowded bus. It could happen, she thinks, remembering the young man who insisted on vacating his seat for her. The man jumping on and off busses all day to earn enough cash to survive. The old lady bending with the weight of her huge shopping bags as she climbed the steps to board. It could happen...