Write with TLC

As my husband drove our gold Ford F150 Lariat out of Lexington, Kentucky turning off Man O' War Boulevard on to Winchester Road, the landscape changed from stores and businesses to horse farms with black fences and pristine green pastures fronting beautiful homes - the kind of homes reminiscent of the glory days of Kentucky horse farms, large and stately. Horses grazed lazily in the fields swatting flies from their backs with their tails. Humidity laced the air causing our air condition to work harder. I opened my window just a little expecting the scent of overheated horse and manure to waft toward my nostrils. For just a moment, my mind tricked me into believing those odors were there. Those were the smells I remembered from this area. Instead the smell of exhaust mingled with hay and trees. I could no longer taste the freshness of newly cut clover on the air. Traffic whooshed by us interrupting the stillness of the farm community reminding me that progress exists everywhere. In ...

Last year I guest blogged on 50 Authors from 50 States about Oregon and focused mainly on hiking, so this year I decided to go a different way and explore another interests - the arts scene in Oregon. While this barely touches on the deep and diverse art scene to be found in Oregon, I wanted to show what the diversity in the Oregon art scene that I've experienced. Please check it out at 50 Authors from 50 States . While you're there, comment for a chance to win a signed copy of Vulnerability in Silhouette: Poems. And don't forget to check out what other authors have had to say about their states!! If you'd also like to read last year's guest post , you can.

We finally arrive at Shuttle Launch Day which was actually July 8th... Just what you've been waiting for, right? We're not going to talk much about going with the flow in relationship to this day mainly because the flow for this day was completely beyond my control. And, that is in and of itself a lesson in going with the flow. The plan was to grab a few hours sleep because we had to be at the Astronaut's Hall of Fame by 6am according to the paperwork we received. Sleep wouldn't come. Try as I might I couldn't fall asleep. So, finally, after hearing on the late news that people were already arriving to watch the launch and debating the pros and cons of making the fifty or so minute drive and the wait, we left the hotel room at around 2:30 in the morning. We made a few wrong turns and ended up taking the long way around, but we arrived before 4:00am and parked. Sleep deprivation? Mostly but also because we'd been instructed to take a different route than th...

We awoke to clouds and pouring rain on our fourth day in Miami. My husband was incredibly amused by this. A big part of my desire to go to Florida was to enjoy the sun, and it appeared the rain followed me there. As we left the hotel, we decided that given the rain, we might as well just go ahead and head back to Orlando since our only plan for the day had been a walk on the beach in the sun! We found a restaurant north of Miami and plugged it into the GPS. I reminded myself to just go with the flow as we left Miami. I wanted to drive along the coast, but the route to the restaurant wasn't going that direction. Deep breath. As my husband pointed out, there was plenty of coast to enjoy after we had breakfast. Of course, the first place we tried to go to was... well, if it existed it was behind a gate in a gated community, so I'm not sure how we would've gotten to it or at least that's where the GPS took us. After several attempts to argue with the GPS (yeah, now that...

My second day in Florida seriously tested my resolve to go with the flow. When I say seriously, I mean grit-your-teeth, plant-a-smile, pull-out-the-Southern-charm kind of serious testing. Let's just say "That's nice." popped into my thoughts more than once and many of you know exactly what that means. In my husband's defense, he did warn me before we even left Oregon that he might need to work a little while we were in Florida. I nodded and told him I understood. I did understand. The week before we left had brought some complications at work, so it wasn't a big surprise. Plans for day two were something along the lines of the following. Awake early, eat breakfast, and take a nice lesisurely drive down the coast to Miami arriving in Miami some time in late afternoon. Late afternoon but still early enough to go to the beach - at least for a walk. Actual day two in Florida bears little resemblance to this plan. First we slept much later than planned. Then my ...

It was our first day in Florida. We got off the plane around seven in the morning, grabbed a quick and disappointing breakfast at a restaurant whose name I can't remember, located the hotel we couldn't check in to yet, and bought a few supplies. Then we decided the intelligent thing to do was determine exactly how long it would take us to drive to the Astronaut's Hall of Fame in Titusville where we would watch the shuttle launch on July 8th, so we made the drive. So far, this was exactly what I'd expected for the morning, but , I wanted to to find a beach and stare at the water for a while. Maybe take a little dip in the ocean, but I was still undecided on that one. I really wanted to do something where there would be no photos taken, I wouldn't feel selfconscious, and very little energy would be required. When my husband suggested we see if the Kennedy Space Center was open, I took one look at his excited face and decided not to remind him I wanted to go relax on ...

Okay, I love Florida. It's official. After a week there, I was ready to move. Yes, it rained and stormed two solid days, but guess what, it was still warm out. I didn't have to find a sweat shirt or a coat or go buy long pants. I wore my shorts and my sleeveless shirts. I wasn't freezing. Yes, it was hot and humid the other days. Yes, the sun was even punishingly hot at times.  Yes, forgetting to put sunscreen on any part of my exposed skin was a huge mistake and resulted in a sunburn in a short period of time in the sun. And, yet I felt free, comfortable, and happy. As soon as I stepped out of the Orlando International Airport at somewhere around seven o'clock in the morning on July 4th, I smiled. The rush of heat and humidity felt like coming home. I know. I'm weird. It's okay, you're not the first to think so. Now, I have to admit not being able to check into the hotel until four in the afternoon started to wear on me fairly quickly after flying all nigh...

Let me start by saying as a writer I rather enjoy playing the "What if..." game sometimes  - well when I'm in control of the game and it doesn't take control of me - because it often leads to some pretty awesome story lines. Thinking what if I'd made that decision instead of the one I made. Thinking what if I run into a friend I haven't seen in years. Thinking what if I run into that person who not only broke my heart and ripped it to shreds but set it on fire and urinated on it before handing it back to me with a sly smile that said you'll never forget me now will you. I've played these what if games and used the different scenarios to generate stories and poetry. The mental exercise I often tend to not like is "This would be perfect if..." or "The only thing missing is..." Now, don't misunderstand, these can also be great exercises to find story ideas or to fix scenes that aren't working. The problem with these scenarios...