It’s about more than self-evolution; isn’t it? I told one of my friends that I was looking at a lot of stoicism blogs lately. She snorted, raised an eyebrow and watched as her dog sniffed a sexy bush near the old, brick electric building and said, “Well, that’s super bro of you.” “Wait. What? You mean Stoicism…

This podcast we’re going to talk about our town’s purple fire snowstorm about 170 years ago and other weird things that happened in 1853, showcased in just one newspaper on one day. It was February 170 years ago that a lightning storm hit Mount Desert Island, striking dozens of…

Carrie Jones Books Sometimes a poet takes a bar of soap and scrubs it against their skin. Sometimes bits of soap or skin flake off and for a few moments the freed bits are airborne, flitting through the shower stall or the tub before hitting the ground. Those moments of…

“My heart aches,” he says as if that will change her mind. He quotes Keats, memorizes it the way others memorize song lyrics, Drunk, but not on hemlock or an opiate. Drunk One minute and the next. Keats is not pretentious enough a poet to impress Someone who sings with…

So, I’ve been writing poems every morning. I know! I know! “Poems,” say the anti-poem people. “Ick!” And I totally get that, I do. Just like not all people are into graphic novels or manatee erotica (making that one up), people aren’t all into poems. The only reason I’m telling…

Why motifs are cool in your novel Writing motifs are cool. They are one of those elements that elevate your novel from something crooning Celine Dion off-key on a karaoke stage to Ms. Dion herself. Seriously. They are a big deal. Here is what LitCharts says about them:

When a tall man entered the small airplane at the Bangor Airport, people got out of his way, curling out of the aisle, further into their seats. He was so big, so full of presence. He took up space. When the flight attendant said that the plane was over its…

Writing isn’t always easy. It isn’t always this beautiful, muse-induced utopia. Sometimes it’s grueling; it can make your nerves shatter. But the thing is that it’s not always THE WRITING that’s doing that. It’s you that’s doing that. Writing is hardest when you let other people’s doubts sink into your…

I’ve been working on this painting a bit this week, but mostly staring at it and trying to figure it out. It is a bit of a homage to my cousin and her little girl (who isn’t so little now, but just so beautiful) and then it branches out into…