These mid-August days, some 2500 years ago, witnessed a violent turn-about in power — regicide followed by a week of king-less days. Imagine for a moment the uncertainty, the chaos. Imagine the mother of the assassinated king. Still alive, for the time being — a foreigner in a court conflicted about its cosmopolitan nature, a …
I have sunk low. From the formal correspondence with perfect spacing that I learned to execute back in grade school – letters hand written, of course, in slow loopy cursive – I have adopted a curt and, I’ll admit it, error-filled email style. If there’s a salutation at all, it often runs like a dog …
Sunday morning, and everyone else is at church. Well, not everyone, exactly, and that’s just it. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about not-church church. This morning, post beach vacation at the in-laws and suddenly solo for a few days, I feel adrift. The writing projects, both fiction and non-fiction, that have so energized me …
I read a great article recently, really recently, yesterday I think, about how difficult it is to be a professional writer these days. Maybe you saw it.… and can tell me where it is. The New York Times?, New Yorker? Ah, the perils of vacation. I’ve been grabbing up beautifully prepared words like some ancient …
I have so enjoyed immersing myself in historical fiction lately. Some books I’ve read as a kind of catch-up to the genre, some have been for book clubs, and some I’ve picked up simply on the recommendation of friends. What a broad spectrum — definitely not limited to the bodice-ripper British romances that I pilfered …
Finally, I’ve revamped my website’s “Bio,” even the “Q&A,” to reflect some big ol’ life changes. Shoshin, the Japanese Zen call it. “Beginner’s mind” — to be sought and cultivated. It’s all of everything a person ought seek, according to wise men from the east. And everything is in it. Yet, these days, I’m right …
It’s not worth listing why I can’t complain. I can’t (complain; or make lists, for that matter). Yet, while everyone else seems to be embracing the new year with the energy of clear purpose and PowerPoint-able goals, I’m having drinks with Lord Languor and Princess Peevish. I know it’s time to sober up and show …
Where else can you enjoy after-dinner drinks while Bernard Cornwell (Sharpe series) hams it up, the man’s voice in a steamy sex scene written by Gilllian Bagwell (The Darling Strumpet), with the author in playful swoon while Diana Gabaldon (Outlander series) reads the narration? Where else can you meet Philippa Gregory (The Other Boleyn Girl), …
Legend has it that Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon for his young wife, Amytis, who was homesick for the mountain home of her childhood. That home? — ancient Ecbatana, modern Iran’s Hamadan, one mile above sea level in the shadow of snow-c0vered Mt. Alvand. Looking at pictures of the place, so …
The Library of Virginia sure knows how to put on an eve! With Bible Babel a finalist in 2 categories, I’m honored to have been in the company of not only the winners of those: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and The Horse in Virginia, but also all the amazing writers and lovers of lit who were …
