Is it possible we fiction writers are nothing more than escape artists who manage to write journals of our inner travels-hopefully in such a way that others willingly share our adventures? Fiction can be more enticing than reality. I would, after all, much rather imagine having a flat tire on a rainy night out in the middle of nowhere-with a complete story woven around it, full of interesting characters-than actually experience that flat tire and that wet, cold rain.
(more…)

Favorite authors gain my attention in unexpected ways. When I was a teenager my mother came home from the library one day with (more…)

Yann Martel’s novel, Life of Pi, is a brutal, dramatic tale. It perplexes, confronting the reader with realism and fantasy in the same thoughts. It’s the kind of story that makes you wonder if it could possibly have really happened. If so, what really happened? I’m left with a mystery, but not a frustrating one, it’s magical in a sense. I savor it like the taste of a fine meal I’ve just finished. I linger over it and reminisce. (more…)

A frequent visitor to our yard. (Click for larger views.)

Scrub Jay in Tree
(more…)

Leave it to Margaret Atwood. Her books lead us into unique situations, so why not her book signings? (more…)

A couple of days ago my husband pointed out a flock of birds that had lighted in our front yard, with crests on their heads and crimson dots on their backs (when perched—the dots are actually on the tips of secondary wing feathers). We’d never seen these before. (more…)

According to a July 2004 article in the “News Room” of the National Endowment for the Arts, Fewer Than Half of American Adults Now Read Literature. The article cites statistics from Reading At Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America. This 60-page report was created using data collected from a sample of 17,000 adults by the U.S. Bureau of the Census in 2002, at the request of the National Endowment for the Arts. Much of the blame for the documented decrease in the quantity of our literary reading over the past 20 years is placed on television and lower levels of education. The report defines literary reading as novels or short stories, plays, and poetry, and it makes no distinction as to the quality of the literary works.

Three points in the Reading At Risk report worry me most, as a writer hoping to sell my work: (more…)

I usually knit in the evening, but this morning I woke up with only 7 rows left to knit on the center square of my lace shawl. (more…)

The death toll from the tsunamis has now reached 125,000. When we hear of people suffering so much elsewhere, it makes our comfort at home seem somehow indecent or self-absorbed in contrast, and the everyday troubles we complain of mere trifles. (more…)

If you’re in the mood to read a classic story, here’s a link to my favorite online version of that 1843 tale of humbug, ghosts, and merriment, A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. This edition was published by Chapman and Hall, Ltd. of London in 1897 and illustrated by John Leech. Be sure to click on each picture for a complete view of the artwork. (more…)