What’s in a Preposition?
I was born in Scotland and received my grammar and composition grounding in primary school (grades 1-7) in the 1950s. We were grilled and drilled in the way our language went together and were taught “right and wrong” ways of expressing ourselves. Later, I moved to Canada, where I completed high school and discovered that […]
Writing and the "T" word
No, not T—-, but Time. Periodically, I go back to something I heard from Elmore Leonard at a conference, namely, “You either want to write or you don’t.” Leonard was somewhat irascible at times, but, in my experience, he hit the nail on the head and didn’t mince words. I meet many people who want […]
Writing and the "G" Word
Recently, I became a Granny for the first time and apart from thinking he’s the cutest grandson in the world (doesn’t every granny think that?), I’ve also wondered about how the beginning of any life affects the many people around that life and how that life is recorded and shared. The obvious answers include parents […]
Writing and the Big T
A week into our new presidency and I’m inundated by writing about our new president–on Facebook, on blogs, in poems, in short prose pieces–in other words, just what our new president wants: attention. I have purposely not written about our new presidency, although I have written about some of the events that have occurred, but […]
Singing One’s Way to Creativity
I may be a writer, but I’m also a singer, both as part of choirs and as a soloist. My choral singing “career” (if one can call it that) has been going strong since I was three years old. Currently, I belong to the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra, which performed last weekend on the […]