As a fiction writer, it is not unusual for me to throw so much adversity at my characters that at least one (usually the protagonist)… Read More »Justice does not require anger . . .

Winter Solstice: the darkest day of the year, especially here in Oregon after a storm moved in. Solution, in my humble opinion, is twofold: 1)… Read More »Let There be Light

When something improbable happened on his Kentucky dairy farm, my friend Rube Kubale used to say, “Well, that’s a who’d-a-thought-it.” 2020, it seems to me,… Read More »Who’d-a-thought-it

Another example of human creativity in the midst of trying times.  

Last week while backpacking a section of the Pacific Crest Trail in Oregon (76 miles from Willamette Pass to McKenzie Pass) I met 12-year-old Tin… Read More »What he carries . . .

Literature takes many forms, and feeds the reader in a wide variety of ways. But there is one category, I feel, that rises above the… Read More »A Special Calling

Leslie Nielsen said, “Doing nothing is very hard to do . . . you never know when you’re finished.” Which I find funny, at least… Read More »Making Meaning

A crow perches in the maple tree outside my second-story office window.  It has a twig in its beak. A scrub jay lands nearby, eyeing… Read More »The Space Between Things

Writing fiction is grounded in exploring the complexities of the story’s characters — their wants, underlying needs, how their minds work, and the resulting behaviors.… Read More »The Science of Well-Being

Dear Potential Victims — No, sorry, too abrupt. Let me try again: Dear Conducive Bodies — Um, that’s not it, either. Although accurate, it’s too… Read More »A Letter from your friend, Covid-19