Poet Reporter
A different kind of reporting, through the eyes of a poet.
Rise Above
When I was a kid, I thought I was Spiderman. I even had the web shooters for my wrists and used to run around catching household items in my webs. When I got a little older, I wanted to be Wonder Woman. I had a red cardigan with buttons that I would wear as a jacket outside when the Pennsylvania weather was decent…
Enter the Steam
There’s a story written in the 1940s by William Sansom about prisoners who have to wring the water out of a long sheet. Have you read this? If they can get the sheet to dry completely, they can gain their freedom and leave the prison. But to complicate matters, every so often the wardens release steam into the prison rooms, dampening the sheets the prisoners been wringing out…
The Next Ten
When I was little, my mom would take my sister and me skiing in the winter. My mom loved to ski, but she felt that paying a babysitter while she went skiing was too much indulgence, not to mention she thought we’d like it, so her solution was simple: Bring us with her…
Motivation
Writers get into their characters’ headspaces. We know their backstory. We wrote it. We know why these characters act the way they do. We know how they think. So we get in there and write accordingly…
Pristine
On New Year’s Day I looked out to a lovely blanket of newly fallen snow. What had been treacherous travel the night before was now quiet, clean, and innocent-looking. The symbolism was abundant: A brand new year ushered in with a refreshingly clean slate.
Pristine is the word often used to describe this newness….
Marking the Miles 2025
Those of you who read my original blog a bunch of years ago will remember that at the end of each month I posted a “Marking the Miles” blog where we looked back over the month to my favorite writings and what they meant to me. With this year speeding toward a close, it felt appropriate to bring that tradition back…
Holiday Dinner
At a birthday this weekend, a bunch of us sat around the table with coffee and cake retelling old stories. These are the best days, when everyone is talking and laughing together. This time, though, instead of just following along, I found myself asking direct questions and trying to get the details right. I’ve heard many of these stories before, and it’s high time I did something about it…
Second Snow
The first snowfall of the season is cold and beautiful and fills you with wonder. You run to the grocery store and stock up on bread, milk, and toilet paper and then rush home to enjoy the show. As the fluffy flakes pile up, you might wander outside, taking pictures and making the first tracks in the pristine snow…
Misfits and Christmas Letters: A How-To Guide
Sometimes you sit down to write and you have nothing to say. Other times you have so much on your mind that the words get jammed from your mind to your pen/keyboard. It happens whether you’re writing books, blogs, or Christmas letters…
Notes to Self
I’ve always enjoyed the idea of hidden messages. Secret compartments, hidden treasures, following clues to find things tucked away, these are fun places for the imagination to go.
Notes passed in class were always exciting. I don’t know about you, but the notes I wrote and received were always about something fun…
Permanent Record Card
I ran into one of my high school teachers this weekend. Mr. E. was selling his books at the same event where I was selling mine. He introduced himself and I recognized his name, so we talked and caught up for a few minutes…
Placemat on a Dinosaur
Growing up, when my extended family got together we got into fights. We’d gather, set potluck dishes anywhere they’d fit, maybe even watch a little of the holiday parade on TV while we waited for everyone to show up. Then we’d line up to fill out plates and settle at various tables. And sometime before the end of dinner…
Frosting Face
The craft show atmosphere is a lot like an airport at Christmas time. There’s a lot of baggage and hustle and bustle, and big personalities that squabble over small things and quiet people who absorb it all with a pen in hand…
The Pilot’s Gamble: How It Starts
Here’s a story for you, about a flight I took from Pittsburgh to Rochester (Minnesota) that connected through Chicago. (As always, this was years ago. Years from now, I’ll tell stories from today. And I’ll still say, “Years ago…”)
Anyway, the story…