We pay to have the scruffy yews replaced by red elf coreopsis and balloon flowers, the dwarf variety, each cutting selected for its sweet bee perfume, the whole fenced in by fuschia-bright phlox. It’s a good plan, well-researched and weed-tended, until the morning I spy a wild invader’s stalk, rising like a Trojan horse with spine so tall it quickly outpaces the lame domesticated roots, races upward, one foot, two, ten, each leap a succulent invitation to butter

"The lunatic, the lover, and the poet Are of imagination all compact." William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream When Theseus says these words to Hippolyta in the play at his wedding, he is tolerating her reaction to the strange romantic doings of the human and ethereal spirits in the woods. I like to think the lines apply to all of us who find July a time to moon gaze at night, read entertaining novels in the afternoon

June ushers in summer with an abundance of memories: family weddings, high school and college graduations, anticipated or completed excursions to favorite destinations, or maybe travel to new ones. This year, for me in 2026, this month is also about making changes – a new look for my website and a new direction for my writing. First, the website. Since January, I’ve been working to update the existing site to better represent my brand. From the Write Side has been my baby for

The farmlands are mostly gone now, paved over, plowed under, transformed by tar and girded by concrete and order. But there, on the curve of the cul-de-sac, the wild creeps in. Mansions consume large lots, sport cultured lawns awash with weed killer that seeps and runs and strangles the native flowers, but deep within the curated grass, the wild creeps in. The wooded groves, the prairie fields struggle to retain purchase amid the plats with throwback names: Settler’s Walk

As winter settles in, I reflect on the meaning of giving, the beauty of simplicity, and the gifts that matter most, shared moments, meaningful words, and the people we cherish.

A quiet reflection on gratitude, connection, perseverance, and the people who leave lasting marks on our lives.

The abundance of leaves already on the ground invites the kid in me to scuff through them. I can’t resist the urge as I listen to the crunch and imagine myself off on an adventure with hobbits, attending a ball in Bath with Jane Austen, or practicing archery with Catniss. Fiction offers so many amazing escapes, and the bigger the volume, the better the read! This outlook explains why I gravitate to fiction first. I’m a storyteller who loves stories. Any well-written novel wil

As a teacher, I always equated September with the beginning of a new journey…new classes, new students, revitalized and revamped lessons…building on the past and adding the new to the future ahead of us. That, in turn, got me thinking about how we creative types move beyond the comfortable into the unknown to produce new work. To foster that for myself, I made a brief list of ways to move outside of the familiar. #1. Attend and speak at a Poetry Slam. Whoa, this was very far