All articles filed in Musings

It’s official. I’m a newly-minted member of the No-Pants Club. I have left my job as the Assistant Winemaker at Peachy Canyon Winery. I have traded in my Redback waterproof boots for Reef flipflops. I will no longer spend my days covered in wine, grape skins, and dirt. I have taken off my yoga pants…

I have always loved fantasy novels. I grew up reading The Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and Harry Potter. As an adult, though, fantasy has been harder to find. I’ve dabbled in Neil Gaiman, Patrick Rothfuss, and of course, my favorite Laini Taylor. I’ve read the odd vampire novel and one or two urban fantasy books, but something…

It’s very popular among writers to spend a lot of time hemming and hawing over the grand question of Why We Write. I think almost every one of my writer friends has penned at least one blog entry with that exact title. I’m not saying this as an accusation. I haven’t actually done the same thing, but I’ve…

A few days ago a young man contacted me asking for writing advice. It was the first time I’d ever been asked for writing advice, and it was a bit of a shock. I thought that was something that only happened to famous writers like Neil Gaiman, Margret Atwood, or Anne Rice. But here was another human…

Like smoke on the horizon Like ash at my feet Like grey soot and bony plants I am afraid. Like cryptic messages passed from hand to hand Like acrid liquor in my throat Like heat in my belly, growing I am afraid. Succulent fruit, lush and sweet Are your promises. Like smoke in my mouth Like…

“Weathered faces crusted with white paste, they hunch like specters over the fire stones and blackened pot; perhaps they will rise and, in dead silence, perform the slow dance of the sennin–wild mountain sages of the ancient days in China and Japan who give no formal teaching but redeem all beings by the very purity of…