No, not those old ladies…as far as I know we’re fine. What I’m talking about are the lovely old houses of the past–especially the “grand old ladies” of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
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I’m the only writer in the group (or the only one who claims to be) and I find the company of readers so nourishing.
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My favorite line in J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan describes Captain Hook: “The man is not wholly evil—he has a thesaurus in his cabin.” I love that. Words are important. They convey meaning and create an intellectual and emotional response. Since we know words can hurt or heal, we should be certain ours are understood.
Some words are imprecise, flabby, and liable to misinterpretation. Other words nail the intended thought with such clarity and precision that the mind of the hearer or reader is enlightened and enlarged. I admire people—even Captain Hooks—who know interesting and beautiful words and use them with skill and artistry. That’s the job of the writer, after all.
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In honor of the fact that fellow Miss Demeanor Alexia spent a full 36 hours last week on airplanes and in airports traveling from American Samoa to Albuquerque, NM (factoring in a couple of 8+ hour layovers), the rest of us decided to chime in with some of our most harrowing travel stories. Here follows some nail-biters:
Read MoreA recent, on-going family medical crisis forced me to behave
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Today was the first day of the NY Pitch Conference. I’ve been a workshop leader there for ten years, and it has a very special place in my heart because that’s where I sold my first novel, The Fiction Class.
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In less than a month, I will be speaking at a country club about the stories behind my stories. The engagement is a benefit to support services for seriously ill women at Englewood Hospital. I’m the entertainment. In exchange for speaking for an hour, the hospital is giving everyone a copy of The Widower’s Wife.
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