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Imagination and Creativity
I’ve always had a vivid imagination. As a child I could see and hear all sorts of conversations and interactions between people and animals and even inanimate objects. My hair barrettes had secret lives known only to me. I would tell myself stories about them. Sometimes acting them out, alone in my room. The teddy…
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In the Morning
In the small hours of the morning, when the sun has not yet risen, they come out. Testing the air with tiny noses and furtive paws, small eyes alert for any movement of bug or predator. Sniffing out the best nuts and leaves and flowers and seeds, the mice and voles venture forth. The squirrels…
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Intermittent Troubles
We’ve been having trouble with a leaky windshield in our 2006 Jeep Commander for a few years now. Yes, you would think that would be an easy fix. At first we tried to fix it ourselves. We’re pretty resourceful … generally … but resourcefulness is not always helpful in all situations. We thought the high…
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Chemical Farming and World Health
I watched a video on YouTube the other day by Dr. Zach Bush. It was eye opening and scary and worrisome. It also put the issue into perspective and tied together so many seemingly disparate parts that it is hard to describe the video in any concise manner. But I guess you could say that…
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Shart?
I learned a new word this morning. Maybe, probably, some of you already know this word. There was a story about a kid doing a spelling quiz. The letters of the words were scrambled and they had to figure out what the actual word was. One was something like “rtsah.” I immediately thought “harts” (a…
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The Over/Under Debate
Every now and then, I’ll run across an article online about what is the right way to orient a roll of toilet paper on the dispenser. As if there might be a wrong way. I mean, come one. You put it on there the way you like it. But apparently, there are some people who…
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Regulating Fragrances
I have a particularly irksome pet peeve. Irksome to me and irksome to the people with which I share air space. Well, maybe not as much to those people because I rarely say anything about it. I usually (but not always) suffer in silence. Stupid? Yes. Diplomatic? Maybe. The thing is, fragrances are unregulated. And…
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Chapters
I have a lot of trouble with chapters. Sometimes I think that if a book has too many chapters, it gets unwieldy. By that I don’t mean that the book gets too long. Just that when my chapter numbers start getting up there into the fifties (and is it better to write the number out…
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Outlining a Novel
I’ve never outlined a novel. Okay, so I’ve only written five novels and independently published them. So far, I’ve had a general idea of how I wanted the story to move along and sort of let the characters carry it there. I do usually know how I want it to end. It’s just that getting…
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Haiku One
Winter, like the wind Creeps into ev’ry crevasse Chilling to the bone I love winter. The cold is invigorating. The weather can be exciting. But I do sometimes get tired of being cold all the time. There are days when it seems the only way I will get warm is to have a nice long…
Maddie's Mom Writes 