These past few days I’ve been annoying several people with a recent “Aha!” moment. It’s a fresh perspective, inspired by Anne Lamott’s new book of essays, Almost Everything: Notes on Hope. There I encountered one of her personal beliefs: that she is a spiritual being...

Good news for brick-and-mortar bookstore owners, employees and patrons. November 10-16 is the inaugural Love Your Bookstore Week! If, like me, you are a book lover, now’s your chance to join this celebration. Visit your favorite bookstore(s), take pictures of the...

Social media- -Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the rest of it- -has wrought significant change in human communication. Though I’m not a dedicated social media user, I have been on Facebook for over six years. My experience with this platform has been, for the most...

Writing, in general, is a lonely line of work. Writers can work in isolation for hours and hours, submerged in the world of their projects, barely surfacing for meals, getting dressed and interaction with other humans. There are some exceptions to this life of...

Authors are frequently asked: Where do you get your ideas? My answer: Everywhere. But sometimes the original idea is not what ends up on the page. Which brings me to Ralph. Ralph is a character in Small-g City, my first book-length project accepted for publication. He...

As Halloween approaches, it’s natural to think of a diet overcharged with sweets. Even kids who participate in “downtown shopping area” kinds of events, sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce, are likely to come home with a bag full of the good (chocolate), the...