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- My novel, Going to Solace, is available in hardcover, paperback and for all e-readers.
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- Yep. That’s me. Apparently I had something to say. Still do from time to time. Not much has changed except they don’t let me bring my squeezy toys with me to meetings. I’m not sure about this blog thing, but I think a lot about writing, about acting, about how to move people. So maybe we can think about some of those things together.
Category Archives: Small Towns
On Tolerance and Toleration
Thinking ’bout the South THE LANGUAGE OF RESPECT My address says CA, but all I see from my writing desk these days are my old familiars, the mountains of NC. Given a continent’s remove from those parts, I speak of … Continue reading
Posted in Going to Solace, LIFE, PAGE, Small Towns, The Little Things, The South, Uncategorized, Writers and Writing
Tagged Appalachia, Blue Ridge Mountains, caretaker, family, fiction, Hospice, literary, North Carolina, novel, solace, South, Southern, women, writing
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A Star is Born
Thinking about the Performing Arts THE COOLEST HEAD PREVAILED I’m going to stretch out in this blog post and tell you a story. The little girl on the left (the one with the giganimous headset on…) deserves no less. You … Continue reading
Posted in Artistry, LIFE, Music and Singing, Once Upon a Lullaby, Once Upon a Lullaby, PAGE, Small Towns
Tagged baby, bedtime, girl, Lullaby, Merced, music, recording, Singing, talent, voice
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Civility
Thinking ’bout the South THE SEMIOTICS OF REGARD Today’s New York Times ran one of those borderline-quaint regional features about the decline of manners in the South (“A Last Bastion of Civility”). I suppose it’s not easy to find an … Continue reading
Posted in Expression, Family, Going to Solace, Home, LIFE, Small Towns, The Little Things, The South
Tagged Appalachia, Blue Ridge Mountains, caretaker, Civility, family, Going to Solace, Hospice, literary, Manners, novel, South, story, The South, women, writing
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Shaggy and Nosy and Loud
Thinking about Writing FIELD WORK A balmy Sunday afternoon. Bright sun. Cool air. I drive myself well out of town down a dusty road to a sheep farm. It features a modest farmhouse, not a mansion. Worn wooden fencing surrounded … Continue reading
Posted in Going to Solace, Home, LIFE, PAGE, Small Towns, The Little Things, Writers and Writing
Tagged Appalachia, Blue Ridge Mountains, caretaker, family, fiction, food, Hospice, literary, North Carolina, novel, Petaluma, South, Southern, women, writing
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“Why I Live at the P.O.”
Thinking ’bout the South SOCIAL MEDIA: OLD SCHOOL Great New York Times article this morning on the vanishing of little post offices around this country. I was lucky enough to “come up,” as we say in the South, summering in a … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Going to Solace, Home, LIFE, Small Towns, The Little Things, The South
Tagged Appalachia, Blue Ridge Mountains, caretaker, family, fiction, Hospice, literary, Montreat, North Carolina, nostalgia, novel, post office, small town, South, Southern, women, writing
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Paper
Thinking about Small Town Life MY WEDDING, MINE It’s been one year tomorrow. The sweetest, funnest wedding ever. Even I had a good time and it was my wedding. Just a few folks there (by design) and everybody pitched in (by … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Home, LIFE, Small Towns, The Little Things
Tagged ceremony, family, marriage, Petaluma, wedding, women
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“Don’t It Always Seem to Go that you Don’t Know What You’ve Got…”
Thinking ’bout the South ON BEAUTY UNRECOGNIZED That’s my mom on the right with her sister Mary. Could you just die? Are we not so clearly in Florida, what with the vegetation and the pom-pom of blossoms in mom’s great … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Home, LIFE, PAGE, Small Towns, The Little Things, The South, Uncategorized, Writers and Writing
Tagged Appalachia, Beauty, Blue Ridge Mountains, family, fiction, Florida, literary, NorSouth, novel, Self-esteem, small town, Southern, women, writing
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Blessings Upon —
Thinking about Small Town Life BEATITUDES Blessed be our homes. No matter how un-fancy. In big towns. Or small, like mine. Or no town at all. In a field, say. Or a tent in the rubble. Be they ever so … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Home, LIFE, Small Towns, The Little Things
Tagged gratitude, Northern California, Petaluma, writing
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Cornerstone
Thinking about Design BACKYARD ARTISTRY We needed a brain bath. We needed a place to go that is not like our life (which is, by all measures, a fine life, but beleaguered at the moment). We headed for Cornerstone Gardens. … Continue reading
Posted in Artistry, Design, Expression, Home, I:DEAS, LIFE, Small Towns, Stuff, The Little Things
Tagged designers, Garden, Landscape, Napa, outdoor
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Boiled Peanuts
Thinking ’bout the South SQUISHY AND WEIRD This picture makes me happy. I took it last Thanksgiving when I was in the Blue Ridge Mountains taking pictures of everything. Why? Because my novel takes place in the Blue Ridge on … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Going to Solace, Home, LIFE, PAGE, Small Towns, The Little Things
Tagged Appalachia, Blue Ridge Mountains, caretaker, family, fiction, Hospice, literary, North Carolina, novel, South, Southern, women, writing
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Amanda McTigue 