We writers have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season, no matter how many rejection letters we’ve received, or how many revisions we’ve made on our latest work-in-progress (with the end still out of sight). I’m counting some of the things I’m most grateful for as a writer this month, and you’ll find them […]
writer's life
Songwriting Sparks at the Bluebird Café
The Bluebird Café in Nashville has a storied past, as die-hard country music fans will tell you. Not being one of those, I hadn’t heard of it before this past weekend. Shame on me. The Bluebird Café is a tiny little “listening room” tucked into an unassuming strip mall, far from the noise and neon […]
Writers Have Keen Observation Skills – Or So I’ve Heard
Keen observation skills. That’s pretty much an essential quality for a writer, right? We observe setting. We observe atmosphere. We observe human nature. We observe conflict and emotion and irony. But boy, I’d be lousy as a crime scene witness. Detective: “Can you describe the perpetrator?” Me: “Um. I think it was a white guy.” […]
The Value of Writing Short Stories – On the RMFW Blog
When another writer asked me if writing short stories was “worth it,” I realized it depends—as it does in so many aspects of life—on how you define “worth.” For me, it’s worth it for many reasons. But you may define “worth” differently. This week, I discuss this concept over on the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer’s […]
Burnt Offerings – Hiking through a Wildfire-Ravaged Forest
Here I am, hiking through a burned forest. It’s been less than a year since the East Troublesome Fire tore through 193,812 acres of Colorado mountain forest, destroying 580 structures, 366 of which were homes. With 80-mile-per-hour winds, that fire ripped through miles-long swaths of Rocky Mountain National Park, roiled down mountainsides to the very […]
Inspiration, That Flighty Kitten
Inspiration, That Flighty Kitten by Kelley J. P. Lindberg Inspiration, that flighty kitten,is hard to keep to task.The world is so full, after all,of shine and color and ripplingsun-sparkles on fast-moving water,drawing all six sensesin every direction away.If I depend on her to getanything done, this page will remainopaque as white pixels.It’s up to me, […]
