VJWC: Shift

June 4, 2018.Reading time 1 minute.

Since this is my idea, and since I’ve had a head start, I thought I’d go first. I have decided to alter my posting routine. Typically, I post once a day, six days a week, per blog. I schedule both posts to be published at the same time – early morning. I also have a […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #1: Shift

June 4, 2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Challenging myself to do better is an ongoing process. I am interested in personal growth and a deeper connection with others and life in general. This quest leads me to be more introspective, and to ask the big questions. I guess you could say, I am a seeker. As a teacher, I offered my students […]

A Writing Process

May 26, 2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Sleep beckons, but the mire of anxiety and issues that surround me right now threaten. I push them aside and think of the positive – visualizing our new home, and imagining how I will furnish each room. The power of the mind to shift focus amazes me and I jot down these words: We keep […]

Writing Class #4

March 27, 2018.Reading time 7 minutes.

(As a final prompt for the writing class I am enrolled in, we are asked to think about signposts along the way. This is my entry.) The Tour Guide I take a seat at the back of the open wagon, and wait with a handful of others for the tour to begin. The country air […]

Writing Class #3

March 17, 2018.Reading time 1 minute.

The prompt for this week is to consider the vulnerability of new growth and what it takes to protect it, tying it into nature. Here is the edited version, after the instructor’s suggestions. Rebirthing It came in the peak of summer that most optimistic time, when sunshine equates with health and bodies glow with exertion […]

Writing Lessons #2: Sparrows

March 1, 2018.Reading time 6 minutes.

(The prompt for this week is surroundings and we were encouraged to focus on one aspect of nature as it relates to the story. I chose sparrows.) Out the back gate, across the farmer’s field and into the woods I go in search of the child, knowing that she comes here frequently, alone, despite the […]

Brush Strokes (Fiction)

February 15, 2018.Reading time 6 minutes.

The brush felt awkward in Kate’s hand and she could feel her frustration mounting. The last time she had painted had been the twin’s room more than a year ago and that was because the boys had outgrown the pastels of the nursery. Now, here she sat, legs crossed on the floor with four other […]

How Illness Improved my Writing

October 7, 2017.Reading time 5 minutes.

It’s no mystery that stripped of all obligations and confined to a bed provides the coveted time to pursue writing skills, however; it is the actual experience of illness (in my case ME/CFS) that provides the platform for expansion. Although I have been a ‘writer’ since my early years, the past four have marked a […]

Another Open Mic

October 5, 2017.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Here’s yours truly reading Absence and They’re Just Family, After All at an Open Mic (only my third). To see the full poems, please click on the links.

Why Write Poetry

September 25, 2017.Reading time 3 minutes.

First, a disclaimer: I am in no way an authority on poetry; it is just something I happen to do… a lot. In fact, my original blog, One Woman’s Quest, is dedicated to my poetic escapades. A cancer scare prompted me to start writing a blog in the first place – I needed somewhere to […]