The Emblem: Chapter One
Chapter One: March 1889 When he emerged from underground after hours of toil, David couldn’t deny the protest of his back any longer. But two years over thirty, his body gave him pain that he didn’t think he’d feel until he was an old man. He knew the men who worked below ground beside him felt the same. Not all tried to hide their cursing; others couldn’t hide deep, throaty coughs that demanded relief from the brisk mountain air. He shook his head. He’d long since realized t
Work that Matters: Creating your Masterpiece
*written for "Choices" magazine/ summer 2019 edition There's nothing like a milestone to make you take inventory of your life's accomplishments (or lack thereof). My twentieth high school reunion is approaching this summer, and while I see a few fine lines in the mirror that confirm this fact, it's still hard to believe that my small class of twenty-two is standing on the brink of our fourth decade. In the midst of planning this occasion, a former classmate made the amusing o
Write What You Know?
Write what you know.” I believe it’s the most common writing advice an aspiring author will hear. It’s a worthy consideration, but it’s seemed hollow at times and not always helpful. While it’s important to write from what one knows of life: its wonder, joys, triumphs, and heartaches, that one-liner stopped inspiring me a long time ago. In realizing those four words can mold and bend (where the writer draws from her own experience of disappointment to identify with a characte
The Internal Landscape: Finding Your Resilience
written for "Choices" magazine If Washington state is known for anything in its late August days, its the detrimental wildfires. Threatening, sometimes devastating, the flames spread through farmland, creating chaos and rendering the sky full of hazy smoke. For most these fires are a signal to stay indoors, but for others the flames mean something else: mandated change, an eviction notice from the life they're been living, hard-to-fathom-loss. There are people who don't walk
