One of my favorite books as a kid was The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein because of the tree’s generosity. Years later, I also realized it was a really sad story. Still, I think about trees in the same way—that they always give and give without complaint. I love trees. As a child, I sketched out a blueprint for my ideal tree house. Too bad my parents weren’t sold on the idea. I still love trees. It’s one of the many reasons I enjoy camping in the mountains. Fresh air. Twinkling stars. … [Read more...]
Expressing My Voice
August 1, 2022 Leave a Comment
I was taught to listen. This meant obeying my parents. It meant paying attention to teachers. Often, I translated this rule as to not talk, to never talk. I once held an inner competition to not speak for a whole day (yes, I won). I’d held back so long I had a difficult time even knowing what my own voice was, figuratively speaking. In high school, I started trying to find out. I wrote lots of poetry (some poems even got published). I did drama (even got some speaking lines). Writing has … [Read more...]
November 1 and NaNoWriMo
November 1, 2021 2 Comments
November 1. It’s that time of the year again when I chicken turkey out. Why’s that? Because November is NaNoWriMo. Have you heard of it? NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is a nonprofit that promotes creative writing, but its well-known program is a month-long event which inspires people to write a 50,000-word manuscript in November. Originally, this challenge started among friends in 1999 but has since expanded to hundreds of thousands of participants all … [Read more...]
