I have lived in Birmingham for nearly 25 years now, and I am embarrassed to say that until this weekend I had never ventured into the very l...

The Nina Remembers Columbus Three sisters, but I was the one he loved best. His wife? She may have borne him a son but I taught him t...

When I was six years old I loved Cinderella. It wasn't so much the Fairy Godmother as her beautiful transformation... and all the birds...

Meet the Big Table Poets: Shannon Smith, Barry Marks, Tom Gordon, Jerri Beck, Suzanne Coker, Seth Tanner, Robert Boliek and me Quite the ec...

So I'm thinking the only thing better than spring... is fall. But that's a ways off, so I'm really enjoying the Bradford pear tr...

Black Shawl Remembers Crazy Horse The old ones like to say memory is like riding a trail at night with a lighted torch. And so it does not s...

When I went out to get my mail today, I found inside an ordinary brown box this bit of loveliness: When I unwrapped it, I found this wonderf...

I think most readers would agree that we read first and foremost for the characters. I know for me the best stories are the ones where I ...

Fellow Tenner Christy Raedeke, who is so gracious and wonderful and has a 2 book contract with Flux, has been posting an interview series of...

The book is here! The book is here! It is my pleasure to introduce the latest anthology from the Big Table Poets which includes 7 of my ...

When I didn't win this book in La Belette Rouge's contest, I put it on my birthday list, and that sweet husband of mine wrapped it r...

I love plays. There is something about the live performance that moves me. And I have great admiration for people who write plays, particu...

Wha???? Sure didn't see that coming...

We woke up this morning to a wonderland. The kids are beside themselves, and I wish you could hear it... the soft patter of flakes, the squ...

That's how long I've been alive. And thinking of it in days really changes my perspective. It makes me realize how very important ...

It's a strange thing writing a book. We create characters we grow to really love, and sometimes that makes it hard for us to do all the...

Hello! So happy you're here!! You know what's great about a new house? All that POTENTIAL, right there, waiting for you to realize...

Yes, what you may have suspected is actually true: I hear voices. And being a writer, I am fond of creating analogies to describe those vo...

We've all heard the old adage, "be careful what you wish for." Well. I've been wishing for my edits, and now I'm bur...

For those of you who love to read, we've got an interview series going on over at the Odyssey . In the past week, three new books from ...

So I've been working on this article for a local paper on National Poetry Month (April) and why poetry is so important and wonderful and...

Last night I attended the reading/release party for the latest issue of Birmingham Arts Journal, graciously hosted by the Birmingham Public ...

Nobody tells you when you're just starting out as a writer just how much you will change and your manuscript will change and your outloo...

My friend Suzanne and I have got it all figured out: Poetry is Feline Prose is Canine Think about it: the cat shows up when it wants to. S...

So Kirie, whom I completely adore, over at 3 Little Chickies , tagged me for this fun little romp through the photo files. Instructions are...

Someone told me once that there are three parts of a book: the beginning, the end, and everything in between. Trouble is, you can't get...

Last night as I was at the stove trying to make magic with chicken and onions, my father called, from the hospital, where he has been since ...

As Oscar nominations are set to be announced in just a few minutes, I wanted to share this little bit of trivia I recently read: Actors who...

How do you judge a book? I mean, when you walk into a bookstore and pull a book from the shelf, what is it about the book that ultimately m...

Yesterday my friend Teresa sent me to Nathan Bransford's blog where guest blogger Adrienne Kress answers the above question . And it go...

So you're asking yourself, do I really need an agent? All I can do to answer this question is share my own experience. When I started re...

First Day of Winter “All secrets are witnessed.”- Barbara Kingsolver Somewhere glaciers that haven’t moved for hundreds of years shift ever ...

1. I am so inspired by this jar of buttons. The glass was a gift from my mother (it originally held daylilies from her garden), and the bu...