From the mountain top
I recently went to Tennessee to teach a workshop on keeping spiritual journal at the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly on the mountain top near Sewanee (not to be confused with the river or the song of similar name). The Monteagle Sunday School Assembly entrance The church and gazebo on the mall Okay, I admit it,…
Read MorePerfect books for magpies
I recently got back from a teaching trip to the Tennessee mountains, where I was teaching a course on keeping a spiritual journal. It was lovely, and more on that later, probably… on my return, however, I discovered a crashed computer and have spent the last 48 hours working on it, with about five hours…
Read MoreTo Self-Publish or Not To Self-Publish
Do it yourself publishing I frequently get letters from emerging fiction writers, asking me what I think about self-publishing. What a difficult question. The truth is that (and these words may come back to haunt me one day) I can’t imagine self-publishing. I’m sure there are some reputable companies out there. I’m know there are…
Read MoreWe have no idea
A couple of decades ago, at a party, I was introduced to a tall thin man with an infectious grin framed by a dark goatee. His hair curled around his collar. His eyes were the sort of blue it’s hard to forget, although apparently I had. “We’ve already met,” he said. “I’m awfully sorry,” I…
Read MoreBetrayal of the Inuit
I have just finished reading Melanie McGrath’s excellent book, The Long Exile, and I was so moved by it I thought I’d write about it here. Beautifully written, poignant and engaging, McGrath’s book is at once horrifying and hopeful. Her descriptions of the Inuit relationship to place and their fierce will to survive, first, the…
Read MoreShiny things
A magpie with stolen treasure (illustration by Scott McKowen) The sub-heading of this blog is: “the semi-regular musings of a literary magpie who is easily distracted by bright shiny things.” Perhaps a variation of that ought to be my epitaph. (Much better than “Don’t Try!” which was Charles Bukowski’s.) The truth of it is that…
Read MoreSometimes you have to raise your voice…
A while ago someone said to me that she’s “had it with the whole gay thing.” The woman who said this is one of the nicest people I know, willing to go out of her way to help anyone, anytime, and even when we talk about things about which we disagree, she is ever gentle…
Read MoreLove anyway — where I think The Sacred Lives
My Best Beloved and I had dinner on Friday night with Leslie and Chris, (they graciously gave me permission to use their real names.), new friends who exude a wonderfully attractive kindness, integrity and intelligence. We’ve wanted to get to know them better for a while… Beyond all those lovely qualities, there’s something more, however.…
Read MoreOriginal inspiration – James Agee
I was, I think, fourteen, perhaps fifteen when someone I can’t recall handed me a book, called Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. The ‘someone’ was a woman, older than I, and I vaguely recall we were sitting in a kitchen, drinking tea. I have an image of wooden floors, a pot-bellied stove, sagging bookshelves,…
Read MorePerspective
It’s easy to slip into obsessive thinking. It’s easy to lose our perspective and think our problems, our opinions, our troubles, are more important than they are. On my bad days, this is my view of the world (Thanks to Rev. Allan King for sharing the image with me.) I know that sometimes, when someone…
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