little Things

Wreaths hanging around Offering welcome and warmth Safety from the cold

Flash Fiction Contest 1 hour/1000 words

The breath is so loud.  She almost believes it is someone running to catch up rather than her own ragged breathing. Her brain berates her and she doesn’t have the time to stop and go through the necessary steps to calm it. No time to take four controlling breaths. No time to write what she

Misunderstood

I misunderstood addiction. I thought I was an expert. Food, money, sex. Unfortunately, addiction understands and humbles me. Generally, I don’t take pain pills because I have a high pain tolerance—just Tylenol and Advil. Post knee replacement four years ago (before the opioid epidemic was a thing), I was given 150 hydrocodone tablets to take

Why Can’t We Take a Moment?

I haven’t felt the pain of losing a child, but I have seen the pain of losing a child. Written on the faces of my family, and friends…and now a nation…repeatedly. When I read the headline ‘school shooting’ I already know what I will see when I open any social media app. The left sucks.

Motherhood and Letting Go

  Maybe I’ll blog, I think with no real intention (again) of putting effort behind the thought. But then, today, I read the blog of a “friend”–basically someone I met while studying for my MFA- whose words have always touched me in ways I can’t explain. Today they made me cry while I read them.

Not Where I Thought I’d Be

I’m walking the halls of a middle school headed into the Media Center (what used to be called the Library) where I work. As I open the door I’m surrounded by books. Thousands of them. Written by writers I admire, and some that I don’t. I can’t help but think about the millions of words

Wrinkle Blanket

As I look into her face, a face I have been looking into since I was born, I lose myself in her wrinkles.  Some fine and barely there, others etched in as deep as if carved there by a stone-cutter.  To her the wrinkles are sometimes valued; but mostly unwanted as they mark the passing

Passion or Hobby

I like to think I am passionate about most things.  After all isn’t that what we try to teach people, or for me, my children?  Do something you love or are passionate about and you will have success and be happy in life.  What I wonder is, “Am I passionate about writing?”  I feel like

Waiting

I have been waiting for three days for the proof of the book to review.  Finger-biting kind of waiting.  I want it to look good.  I want to fall in love with the final product.  Lightning Source posted that the proof was out so I was positive I would recieve it within two days.  Nothing. 

The Cookbook

I am updating a family cookbook for an upcoming family reunion.  This isn’t writing, per se.  More like copying old recipes my mother had written down and given to us years ago.  We have added about 80 family members since then so I felt like we needed to add new family recipes to the ones