Horses and More I know I haven't posted as much as I intended this summer. I have been busy, in good ways: Working on my novel rewrite (40k words and counting) Running the Denton Writing Club Prepping for a trip where we are taking mules and a horse Honestly, this last part has taken the most time…

Writing Group: Cryptids and Folklore It is officially fall and for the writing group that means it is the start of spooky season. We are starting off with a prompt about meeting a cryptid or creature from folklore. This could be in any context. Yes, I did mix my folklore creatures from different…

Writing Group: Hint If you have been following along for a while you know that at club have been working on writing concisely. This prompt is called a Hint, a story written in just 25 words. I have been working on shortening one particular story over time. Telling a story in 25 words is difficult.…

Writing Group: Epic Poetry This past week's prompt was Epic Poetry. I will preface this by saying: no, we did not have time to write a full Epic. It was more looking at the elements: magic, a hero, a vast setting, etc. I did not start a new piece for this prompt; instead I worked on a poem I had…

Writing Group: Mini-Saga One of the things that we've really been working on at writing club is writing concisely. This week's prompt was a mini-saga, a 50 word short story. My plan was to write flash fiction and then shorten that over time. I have done this but plenty of people have written…

Poetry: Dreams The prompt this last week was dreams - open to any interpretation of that. Even though I decide on the prompts, I had no idea what I was going to write about when I sat down to write this one. It's not my best but at least I got something on the page. What do you write about when…

North Texas Fair and Rodeo on Polaroid The North Texas Fair and Rodeo is currently going on and of course I had to go. I love taking photos as many of you have learned if you follow my site. I need to go get some more 35mm film but in the meantime I decided to take Polaroid photos. This is a…

Poetry: Playing with Form The idea with this prompt was to start with free verse poetry and add an element of form poetry to making writing a bit more of a challenge. Examples: Refrains (Think Villanelle) Meter (various) Rhyme scheme (various) Specific line count Theme (Looking at you Ode) The…

Writing Group: Setting The purpose of this prompt was to make the setting the main focus. I wanted people to write something that if they moved the story out of this particular setting, the story wouldn't work. I could not have written this story at sea level or on the Great Plains. As a writer I…

Writing Group: Drabble A Drabble is a story of 100 words. I selected this as a prompt to work on concise writing. If you remember the Flash Fiction from a few weeks back my plan was to use that as a starting point for this piece. Some group members used it, some didn't and that's okay. We all…

Writing Group: Poetry Element The prompt for this poem was pick a poem, any poem ,and take a single element that you like from that poem and write your own poem using that element. I selected My Last Duchess by Robert Browning. This poem is deceptively dark and messed up. That is not the element I…

Writing Group: Short Story So my prompt for this one was: You’re Earth’s 1st interplanetary ambassador on the way to meet the other planet representatives…  and go. This pieces was 100% influenced by Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Treasure Planet. Is it perfect no, was it fun to write, yes.…

Welcome to Orcas Island So this series has been very delayed. It was never meant to be delayed this long I just didn't get around to it because I got busy and distracted with life. So I'm playing catch-up. Blame the video editing - it takes forever and I'm still working on my book. Yes, I'm…

Writing Group: Flash Fiction The prompt for this week was basic flash fiction - no more than 1000 words. One of the things that I want to work on is writing concisely. This and some other prompts I have planned help with that. Do you like writing flash fiction? Let me know in the comments. I began…

On May 2, 2025, the Trump Administration released its FY2026 federal budget proposal. On page 39 he calls for the complete elimination of the only federal agency dedicated solely to supporting America’s libraries and museums. bit.ly/4cXcPFj via @everylibrary.bsky.social

Amsterdam: Day Six – Goodbye This was our final day in Amsterdam. When we planned this trip we left this day open because we knew that we would find things that we wanted to do that we didn't know about previously and we did. Keltin called this day "Boatday" because of the museums we visited.…

Writing Group: Terza Rima The prompt this week was form poetry, specifically the Terza Rima. Here are the guidelines for writing one: Poem comprised of tercets (or three-line stanzas) Lines are eight to 10 syllables long (usually iambic meter) Lines one and three rhyme in each tercet Line two…

Amsterdam: Day Five This was defiantly the art museum day. If you want to visit the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, buy your tickets in advance. Honestly, that's my advice for pretty much any popular tourist attraction. Van Gogh Museum Keltin and I both loved the Van Gogh Museum. The way the museum…

Book Review: We had to Delete This Post This is the book that I picked up in Amsterdam. It's a novella, I read it on the fight from Amsterdam to Heathrow. This book does fit my rules for regional literature as it was written by Dutch author. Synopsis: Kayleigh needs money. That’s why she takes a…

Amsterdam: Day Four This day started early and ended late and yes, I did take a nap in the middle of it. Albert Cuyp Markt I spoke a bit about this market in my Food in Amsterdam post. Eating is mostly what we did while visiting the market. In addition to food vendors there were also some really…

Amsterdam: Bookstores While traveling we love to visit bookstores and I do my best to find a book that fits my definition of regional literature. These requirements are: I'm not allowed to buy a book I can easily find at home Preferably something by a local author From the city or country we are…

Amsterdam: Day Three The Anne Frank House is the most popular tourist attraction in Amsterdam. We did not know until it was too late that we should have pre-purchased our tickets 6 weeks in advance. Keep that in mind if you are visiting Amsterdam. On a personal note, it feels weird to call this…

Writing Group: Colors The prompt this week was to pull color swatches and write a story or poem using those colors and/or the names of the colors in the story. The colors that I pulled were named: Hunt Club (dark green), Turkish Coffee (rich brown), and Framboise (deep magenta). In other news, if…

Amsterdam Street Art We saw some great street art while in Amsterdam. Don't get me wrong, I love a good art museum but there is something about finding art out in the wild, where you least expect it that I deeply enjoy. What do you think of street art? Let me know in the comments. Street Art Other…

Amsterdam: Day Two Day two started with us crossing the river on the no. 3 ferry. The ferries are free and, at least during the day, run consistently. These ferries are for bikers and pedestrians... mostly. We did see one tiny EV car use the ferry. I think I've seen dogs bigger than that car.…

Writing Club: Point of View So this prompt was a suggestion by a club member and it got a lot of love. It was also a fun bit of first person point of view writing. The prompt was to write from the point of view of the demon or ghost doing the haunting or possession. Here were some of the…

Food in Amsterdam While on this trip we had a lot of good food. We didn't eat a ton of Dutch food (besides stroopwafels and those are delicious) but we did eat food from a lot of other cultures. I don't think we had anything bad. It is too much to list everything but here is a sampling. Japanese…

Amsterdam: Day One Our first full day in Amsterdam was a nice slow start. The only thing we had planned that day was a walking tour of the city. This allowed us to see the city but not to the point where we were fighting too much jet lag. Hotel IX When we travel internationally we like to stay in…

Writing Group: Villanelle I will admit, when I first took over the Writing Group, I wasn't sure how the poetry forms were going to go over but the group members really seemed to like them. This poem form has lots of specifics. From Poets.org: The villanelle is a highly structured poem made up of…

Welcome to Amsterdam Earlier this year Keltin and I spent a week in Amsterdam and we absolutely loved it. I have tons of information on this trip coming but here is a sneak peak. Zaanse Schans Windmills Yes, this was SUPER touristy. Yes, I dressed up to get cute photos. Yes, I was cold but it was…

This cause is close to my heart - please sign: www.fightforthefirst.org/petitions/ge...

Bookshelf Build This was one of those projects that we knew we wanted to do but didn't know how to start. So, we sat on it and brainstormed and forgot about it and finally got around to planning it. It only took over two years. That being said, I did not do most of the work. That thank you goes…

Writing Group: Recipe Disasters This was a fun prompt, yes, it was to make a spoof of a recipe blog posts but instead of telling about a fantastic recipe, we wrote about how it went wrong. This could be a real story, a magic, fantastical fiction. Whatever made us happy. Mine as magic. Also, if you…

Writing Club: Fables The prompt this week was to write a fable. The basics of a fable are that they have a moral and the characters are typically animals. This was surprisingly difficult. I'm not sure mine is a good fable but it follows the basic rules. Have you read a fable since you were a kid?…

Airport Shenanigans I am behind on my travel posts, life has been busy. So while I sort out my travel writing and decode my journal notes, enjoy these airport shenanigans. Okay, we didn't actually cause any issues at the airport but I did go exploring because I was bored. What do you do while…

Poetry Review: Meet Me Between Breaths One of the things on my bingo card for 2025 was to read more poetry. Yes, for writing group we filled out actual bingo cards at the start of the year. This poetry book is by an indie author and I loved it. Meet Me Between Breaths is an exploration of love and…

Writing Group: Ode to Bear This last week's prompt was a great way to start National Poetry month: the Ode. A poem of praise. There are a variety of different types of odes but being that we didn't have a lot of time, I chose the contemporary or irregular ode. Do you have a favorite type of ode?…

Writing Group: Music and Emotions Hello all, the prompt for this week was pick a song and write about the emotions that it evokes. Some of the resulting pieces were sweet, some were relaxing, and there was a bit of trauma. Art is not always bright and happy, sometimes it's dark and painful,…

Book Review: The God of the Woods Keltin and I don't normally read the same types of books but every once in a while we trade books. I don't typically read thrillers but Keltin wasn't wrong in suggesting this one for me. For him I suggested The Secret History by Donna Tartt. On that note, we know…

Writing Group: The Ballad This last prompt was to write a ballad. Ballads are a bit of folk poetry that possibly came from oral story telling traditions. On that note, one of our club members wrote a short ballad, memorized it, deleted it, and then recited it allowed. It was impressive. At its…

Series Review: Dragon Scales Dragons, just dragons and magic and bonds and a bit of romance. It does not matter how old I get I'm still drawn to tales with dragons. I defiantly picked up the first book based on the cover. Also duologys are great because you get more of the story but it's not as…

Writing Group: Ornithology The prompt for this week was birds in any context. Maybe something about a specific bird, maybe birds aren't real, maybe about bird Pokemon. Keltin wrote about blue jays, one group member wrote about swans and how they are represented in myth and media. Another group…

Writing Group: Short Story This was the prompt for my first official week as club leader. It was supposed to be the week of the Haikus but the weather made us cancel. This prompt was to write a story from the point of view of an NPC from a book, movie, or game; pretty much any piece of media. NPC…

Recipe: Dirty Chai Meringues A dirty chai is typically a chai tea latte with a shot of espresso. I let that drink inspire this dessert. I love the King Arthur Baking Espresso Meringue recipe; I've made it several times and these are always delicious. I used that recipe as this base for this…

Hello! My friend that had the brain tumor had it successfully removed but recovery is going to be difficult. #gofundme #medicalsupport #healthcare gofund.me/d7c7f0c2

Arizona: Museum of the West Western Spirit: Museum of the West is in Scottsdale. This museum is a little expensive ($28 per adult) but the guided tours are included. The tours are a bit odd, they only tour 1/3 of the museum at a time. That being said, you can go on back-to-back tours to have a…

Writing Group: Poetry: Haiku The first week that I was supposed to lead Writing Club the Texas weather decided to ensured that it wasn't safe to drive. So to still get those creative juices flowing we all sent each other Haiku poems while staying safe at home. Haiku: unrhymed poetic form…

Hello! Please consider helping out my friend Thomas! He is home from the hospital but he will be in recovery for the next few months. #gofundme #support #braintumorssuck gofund.me/d7c7f0c2

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Arizona: Hiking Papago Park I'm behind on my posts but I'm slowly catching up. In early 2024 we went back to Phoenix for a wedding. The guys went golfing for the grooms bachelor party. So with a free day, I went hiking. Being that I didn't have ton of time or most of my equipment past a day pack,…