Hello Blog Readers, As you know, I have been mostly in absentia for the past few months. I wrote a book during that time. It is a memoir, and it chronicles unusual thoughts and experiences that I have had from the age of 5 to the present. Upon completing the book, I pitched it to literary agents. I have received...
I’m excited to announce that three love sonnets from my sonnet sequence Two Novembers have been published by Tofu Ink Arts Press. The poems can be found in Tofu Ink Arts Press, Volume 4, available in print from various booksellers. Purchase Tofu Ink Arts Press, Volume 4 through Bookshop. Purchase Tofu Ink Arts Press, Volume 4 through Barnes & Noble....
Another of my love sonnets has been published. Check out the poem in The Headlight Review: https://www.theheadlightreview.com/poetry/sonnet-114 This is one of the best stand-alone poems in my sonnet sequence. Since it’s a sequence, many of the poems require the context of previous poems. But this one, sonnet 114, stands alone nicely. Check it out today!
Hi Blog Readers, I’m writing to give you an update. My memoir writing is going well. I’m about 5/8 of the way through. I have stopped writing for a bit because I need to reread some books that I read and learned from at crucial points in my life. In the meantime, I may have time to write a few...
Dear Blog Readers, I’ve been doing some soul searching over the past couple of weeks. What do I want this blog to look like in the new year? I knew I wanted to switch things up, but I wasn’t sure what that meant. So I asked you for feedback—and a big thank you to those who replied. Your replies were...
Happy New Year!! This is a good time of year to switch things up, and I’m thinking about making some changes to the blog. But first—I want your opinions. A few days ago, I set about to create a survey on SurveyMonkey. But it turned out to be more of a time suck than I had anticipated, it was going...
Everyone needs to take a break once in a while. This blog is on hiatus this week. See you again soon!
Hi, Blog Readers! I hope you have been enjoying the photographs featured on Photography Friday. I have been diligently using the time gained to submit my poems to literary journals for publication. It’s a big job. Each literary journal has different submission requirements, and each time I submit I must make a careful selection of poems, format them to specification,...
I’m excited to announce that I have written a guest post for the Three Hares blog by Lisa Tulfer! You may recall that Tulfer is a writer and blogger based in Somerset, England, who wrote a guest post for my blog a few months ago called Words, Words, Words – The Book That Made Me a Writer. I have reciprocated...
I have a new post up on the Silent Book Club blog. It’s called My Silent Book Club Began to Lead Itself. Enjoy! Tomorrow on Patreon for Tuesday-Thursday subscribers: reflections on the Dr. Seuss hullabaloo. . . . Will you support this blog by becoming a Patron? For as little as $3 a month, you will be rewarded with extra,...
I maintain a curated list on Bookshop called Books Previewed on the Blog About Seeking Wisdom. This is the ever-growing list of all the books I have previewed on this blog. Visiting this list and purchasing a book (even a book not on this list!) supports both this blog and independent booksellers. I’m excited to announce that, today, Bookshop is...
My friend (and fellow Silent Book Club organizer) Vicki Ziegler (of Toronto) and I set each other a challenge. We decided to individually write on the topic of how to keep reading during a pandemic. We did not share our ideas with each other before writing. Only after finishing our respective pieces did we reveal them to each other. Two...
Remember Mandy Shunnarah, who wrote a guest post for this blog last week? (In case you missed it, here’s her post about how one line in a novel changed her life: This Novel Got Me My Dream Job.) Well, I also wrote a guest post for her blog. And it’s posted today. (We’re awesome mutually sharing friends like that!) The...
Dear Blog Readers, Lovers of the Written Word, and Everyone Who Has Something to Say: As of January 2021, I am offering writing, editing, and coaching services! Do you have a book in you? Do you have a story, article, essay, report, or website in you? Is there another piece of writing that you’d like to bring into the world?...
Hi, Blog Readers! As always, thanks for reading my little blog posts. Thanks, also, for reading those of my blog posts that aren’t so little. Much appreciated. I’m feeling the need for a break, so I’ll be in absentia next week. (Patrons will continue to hear from me as usual.) It will be a little holiday break for me. And...
I’m excited to announce that both of my Meetup groups are back in business! Silent Book Club of Rockville held its first meeting in months on December 6, 2020. The next meeting will be on December 20, 2020. Shut Up & Write! Gaithersburg will be holding its first meeting in months on January 2, 2021. Both groups follow a similar...
Like many people this year, I am having to cut back on spending. This means buying fewer books and relying more on my public library. But my library isn’t the same comfortable place it used to be. . . . So begins my most recent article on the Silent Book Club blog. Read the rest of the article! Is your...
Booklovers everywhere: we have a serious problem. Fortunately, we also have a serious solution. Let’s delve into the complex process of getting excellent books into the hands of the eager readers of your local community, including you. We booklovers have multiple options for buying books. The choice between Amazon, Barnes & Noble, independent bookstores, and other options is fraught with...
I am pleased to announce the publication of a document I worked on for the U.S. Department of Education called Forum Guide to Exit Codes. I worked on it seemingly forever. Months and months. Much of the document was edited by yours truly; but I was only a bit player in the process of creating this document. It was a...
It wasn’t until 7 p.m. last Friday that I remembered it was the one-year anniversary of my concussion. This is creepy, because my concussion occurred at 7 p.m. I was very much aware, all last Friday, that it was the anniversary of the infamous terrorist attack on the U.S. By now, 19 years later, we are all used to seeing...
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Books previewed
Dead Souls Sam Riviere
The Pale King David Foster Wallace
Lightning Flowers Katherine E. Standefer
Beautiful World, Where Are You / Normal People / Conversations With Friends Sally Rooney
Swan Dive Georgina Pazcoguin
A Passage North Anuk Arudpragasam
Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis
Projections Karl Deisseroth
The Indian Lawyer James Welch
Atomic Habits James Clear
The History of Philosophy A. C. Grayling
Dusk, Night, Dawn Anne Lamott
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick
Nothing to See Here Kevin Wilson
Change Damon Centola
Homeland Elegies Ayad Akhtar
Becoming Attached Robert Karen
Piranesi Susanna Clarke
Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
Solitary Albert Woodfox
Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo
Enlightenment by Trial and Error Jay Michaelson
Death in Her Hands Ottessa Moshfegh
The Cooking Gene Michael W. Twitty
The First Bad Man Miranda July
Upheaval Jared Diamond
A Journal of the Plague Year Daniel Defoe
Creatures Crissy Van Meter
Indelicacy Amina Cain
Say What You Mean Oren Jay Sofer
Habits of a Happy Brain Loretta Graziano Breuning
Bad Behavior, This Is Pleasure Mary Gaitskill
The Brother Gardeners Andrea Wulf
Severance Ling Ma
How to Be an Antiracist Ibram X. Kendi
The Museum of Modern Love Heather Rose
Why I Write George Orwell
The Woman Destroyed Simone de Beauvoir
Educated Tara Westover
The Gift Hafiz
The Collected Schizophrenias Esmé Weijun Wang
Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg
Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari
Milkman Anna Burns
Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer
Waiting for Bojangles Olivier Bourdeaut
A Mind Unraveled Kurt Eichenwald
Eugénie Grandet Honoré de Balzac
The Body Keeps the Score Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald
Digital Minimalism Cal Newport
The Sisters Brothers Patrick deWitt
Dare to Lead Brené Brown
My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh
Almost Everything Anne Lamott
Born to Run Christopher McDougall, Bruce Springsteen
The Ladies’ Paradise Émile Zola
The World Beyond Your Head Matthew B. Crawford
All the Birds, Singing Evie Wyld
Barracoon Zora Neale Hurston
Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury
JavaScript & jQuery Jon Duckett
Home Fire Kamila Shamsie
The Weather Detective Peter Wohlleben
Play It As It Lays Joan Didion
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Mark Manson
Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata
Perfect Me Heather Widdows
Sorry to Disrupt the Peace Patty Yumi Cottrell
Why Buddhism Is True Robert Wright
What Is Real? Adam Becker
Kudos Rachel Cusk
The Days of Abandonment Elena Ferrante
F*cked Corinne Fisher & Krystyna Hutchinson
Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine Alan Lightman
Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
A Room of One’s Own Virginia Woolf
The Pale King David Foster Wallace
Lightning Flowers Katherine E. Standefer
Beautiful World, Where Are You / Normal People / Conversations With Friends Sally Rooney
Swan Dive Georgina Pazcoguin
A Passage North Anuk Arudpragasam
Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis
Projections Karl Deisseroth
The Indian Lawyer James Welch
Atomic Habits James Clear
The History of Philosophy A. C. Grayling
Dusk, Night, Dawn Anne Lamott
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick
Nothing to See Here Kevin Wilson
Change Damon Centola
Homeland Elegies Ayad Akhtar
Becoming Attached Robert Karen
Piranesi Susanna Clarke
Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
Solitary Albert Woodfox
Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo
Enlightenment by Trial and Error Jay Michaelson
Death in Her Hands Ottessa Moshfegh
The Cooking Gene Michael W. Twitty
The First Bad Man Miranda July
Upheaval Jared Diamond
A Journal of the Plague Year Daniel Defoe
Creatures Crissy Van Meter
Indelicacy Amina Cain
Say What You Mean Oren Jay Sofer
Habits of a Happy Brain Loretta Graziano Breuning
Bad Behavior, This Is Pleasure Mary Gaitskill
The Brother Gardeners Andrea Wulf
Severance Ling Ma
How to Be an Antiracist Ibram X. Kendi
The Museum of Modern Love Heather Rose
Why I Write George Orwell
The Woman Destroyed Simone de Beauvoir
Educated Tara Westover
The Gift Hafiz
The Collected Schizophrenias Esmé Weijun Wang
Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg
Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari
Milkman Anna Burns
Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer
Waiting for Bojangles Olivier Bourdeaut
A Mind Unraveled Kurt Eichenwald
Eugénie Grandet Honoré de Balzac
The Body Keeps the Score Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald
Digital Minimalism Cal Newport
The Sisters Brothers Patrick deWitt
Dare to Lead Brené Brown
My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh
Almost Everything Anne Lamott
Born to Run Christopher McDougall, Bruce Springsteen
The Ladies’ Paradise Émile Zola
The World Beyond Your Head Matthew B. Crawford
All the Birds, Singing Evie Wyld
Barracoon Zora Neale Hurston
Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury
JavaScript & jQuery Jon Duckett
Home Fire Kamila Shamsie
The Weather Detective Peter Wohlleben
Play It As It Lays Joan Didion
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Mark Manson
Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata
Perfect Me Heather Widdows
Sorry to Disrupt the Peace Patty Yumi Cottrell
Why Buddhism Is True Robert Wright
What Is Real? Adam Becker
Kudos Rachel Cusk
The Days of Abandonment Elena Ferrante
F*cked Corinne Fisher & Krystyna Hutchinson
Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine Alan Lightman
Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
A Room of One’s Own Virginia Woolf
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