“Correction does much, but encouragement does more.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ~~ See this tree out on that rocky point. The lone cypress is one of the highlights on the 17 Mile Drive along the coastline between Monterey and Carmel. The brochure stated that the tree had survived on that open rocky point for over 250 years in spite of …
It’s a long way from Kentucky to California and a long way back. Glad I wasn’t walking the way the pioneers did or perhaps jogging along on a horse or in a covered wagon. One thing though, I’d have gotten a lot better look at the country that way. I watched out the planes’ windows (I had window seats all …
No picture and I’m a day late. I’m doing my Wednesday blog on Thursday. Not only Thursday but Thursday in California and that means I’m even later. But it’s not every time you can sit on your veranda watching and listening to the ocean crash against the rocky beach in your fancy hotel supplied robe and write back home to …
I know this picture doesn’t have a thing to do with naming characters. Or then again maybe I need to look deeper. The open gate, the roads running together speak of possibilities. I took this picture last week at the Shaker village near me. My new characters might walk down these very roads in my story. They will be facing …
“You can do anything if you have enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes rise to the stars.” ~ Henry Ford I came across this great quote on Facebook the other day. I started to repost it, but then I wanted to say more than the FB police let me say. I always want to say more than …
I met a writing friend for lunch at the Pleasant Hill Shaker Village near here last week. And as always I was drawn to the beautiful curving stairways in the Trustee’s House. I made those stairways a reason for Adam to go to the village in my book, The Seeker. It’s fun to use places in the real Shaker village …
My editor e-mailed me with some questions about the Shaker song, “Simple Gifts” this week and that got me to thinking about the song. “Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free” is probably the best known line of a Shaker hymn. Many people sing it incorrectly as “Tis a gift to be simple,” but that …
A writer needs time to gather a story. To let the glimmers spark out of that mysterious dark center where stories are sometimes born. But there are times when the glimmers sparkle but are as elusive as a sunbeam. You see it but you can’t really grab it. Sometimes the story glimmers tease you and entice you down the wrong …
A leaf covered wagon road through a woods can be a path of possibilities to a hiker. Who knows what might be around the bend? Deer or a hawk whistling a warning to the woods inhabitants below or a beautifully decked out maple tree. Perhaps there will be nothing but more of the same, but in this case the same …
Where do you feel happy? And if you found such a place, how often would you make every effort to go there? This would be a place where you would feel loved and worthy and safe and engaged in life. No boredom there. No hard testing. Except, of course, some of us are happiest when faced with challenges that we …