My first journal was the diary my parents gave me for Christmas when I was leaving childhood and entering the world of adolescence. It had a leather cover with a little strap that locked it shut, perfect for a young teen girl growing up in a household with two annoying brothers. My oldest diaries I came upon as I was doing a deep purge of things in preparation to move back to Ohio a couple […]
Continue readingCategory Archives: Writing
Book Festival
Columbus Metropolitan Library Book Festival The Columbus Metropolitan Library Festival was the library’s first Book Festival, planned to celebrate its 150th anniversary. They estimate over 30,000 folks came out to check out the festivities. It was 18 months in the making and involved dozens and dozens of staff and volunteers. Over and over again I heard people saying they hoped this was the first annual event. Columbus Metropolitan Library has many good reasons to be […]
Continue reading
Van Velzer Press
I was fortunate to learn about Van Velzer Press before I was ready to publish my most recent book. In my experience writing is about equal parts actually cranking out words and thinking about what to write while staring into space, waiting for the light to turn green, or trying to go to sleep. Most writers hope to share their work with readers, which requires a team of editors and advance readers who give honest, but […]
Continue reading
People of Hope – George Dawson
Add author George Dawson (1898 – 2001) to the list of authors whose books have been banned. I’ve added him to my list of People of Hope. Banning books has never turned out well for those who toss other people’s works into the fire or remove them from schools and libraries. Trying to stop people from learning history by banning books is about as productive as trying to drain the ocean by pouring buckets of […]
Continue reading
For Goodness Sake
Do you believe goodness matters? Or that goodness is a virtue? Or that goodness is more prevalent than ugliness, rudeness, and violence? How we see the world boils down to where we look and our sources of information about the world. If we only tune into mass media information, it’s easy to fall into despair; for evil and cruelty are real and reported ad nauseum in media outlets. Yet, if we turn off the flow […]
Continue reading