The Story in All     Examine human nature and you’ll find a primitive creature, afraid of the night, spooked by unexplained noises, and troubled by the mysteries of nature and death and heartbreak. To be human is to need answers and solace. And ever since there was a fire and a circle gathered round […]

Last week I taught an all day workshop on voice and as I was talking to my friend about it he mentioned that the workshop was just what people who are taking part in NaNoWriMo needed. You see, writing, especially writing fast and furious during November for NaNoWriMo, comes much easier when you find your […]

Storyline summary: In the story opening, your protagonist, a person with scars, shortcomings and a deep wound caused by a previous trauma (s) is affected by a troubling change in his life. This change of the status quo forces him to choose a goal or direction which he pursues. But a series of ever-increasing obstacles […]

“I am an artist. It’s self-evident that what that word implies is looking for something all the time without ever finding it in full. It is the opposite of saying, “I know all about it. I’ve already found it.” As far as I’m concerned, the word means, “I am looking. I am hunting for it, […]

“Then, at last, sitting on her stretcher-bed, she took from the very bottom of her pack an old peacock-blue scarf folded around a heavy, square book. She unwrapped it and opened it very carefully, as if guilty secrets might fall from between its pages like pressed flowers. This was Harry’s secret. She was a writer.” […]

Going Home Jessica P. Morrell Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days.  ~Doug Larson Last month I went home to the small town in northern Wisconsin where I lived until I was fourteen. The occasion was my father’s 80th birthday and I found a place changed by time, […]

I’ve got openings in both of my fiction critique groups that begin on October 3 in southeast Portland near 70th and Woodstock. Monday afternoons and Tuesday evenings. Write me for details. This experience will take your writing skills to the other side….

A heat wave has hit Portland and won’t end until next week, so I’m spending extra time watering my new plants and trees. Before it arrived, however, hints that fall was coming whispered in red tipped leaves and cooler nights. And speaking of fall: There is still time to register for my Story Writing Intensive […]