Tag Archives: writing

Story Trumps Structure (and two other books on writing)

Posted on February 11, 2025 by lettersfromheartscontent

Two years ago, after a career of teaching children how to create, I sat down to make some art myself. Of all the arts I explored—song-writing, fabric art, acrylics, aquarium- and terrarium-making, for example, writing had the most patient and … Continue reading →

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Telling a Better Story

Posted on May 26, 2024 by lettersfromheartscontent

I am typing at my desk at the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference, in Black Mountain, North Carolina. (If any bad guys are reading this, I’ll have you know I left behind the forester. Don’t let his Santa Claus … Continue reading →

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8 reasons to keep a five-year memory book

Posted on February 10, 2024 by lettersfromheartscontent

Nine years ago I started my first one-year journal. I’m grateful for eight reasons. 1. Confining thoughts to four, five, or six tight lines requires the writer to be succinct and brief, a habit that has benefitted my writing–and speaking–elsewhere. … Continue reading →

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Embarrassing

Posted on May 17, 2023 by lettersfromheartscontent

Wow, young me had no idea what she was doing. A week ago I posted Walker Tale #2 and that younger me published before thinking it through. Now that I am oh-so-much older I’m thinking I do not know the … Continue reading →

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How dare you?

Posted on May 12, 2023 by lettersfromheartscontent

I should write what I know. What qualifies me to get in the head of a boy? Continue reading →

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And now for something completely different…

Posted on September 1, 2016 by lettersfromheartscontent

I am coming out of the closet. I here confess a great weakness: I don’t like to stay focused on one new interest very long. I reach a point where I feel I have learned the steps and I move … Continue reading →

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What I Did for My Summer Vacation

Posted on August 30, 2015 by lettersfromheartscontent

Well, my friends, it has been a long time. The constant tug I feel for spinning thoughts into poetry (of one kind or another) sometimes performs work of a different kind. This summer it generated letters with actual stamps, an … Continue reading →

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Anyone can write poetry

Posted on October 21, 2014 by lettersfromheartscontent

I want to write. When I write well and that magic thing happens, that long silky ribbon of of words that surprises even me, my soul sighs, profoundly content. It is like the winter yearning of my friend Aula to get … Continue reading →

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Reading Aloud to a Reluctant Family

Posted on November 3, 2013 by lettersfromheartscontent

I love words. I love what some people can do with them, and the blogs I follow are such writers. They inspire me. One of them is The Gluten Free Girl and the Chef. On November 1, 2013 she posted … Continue reading →

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I know what Barnabas is doing this summer…

Posted on February 11, 2013 by lettersfromheartscontent

I hardly slept last night. When Robbo and Barnabas returned last night from their Mandala Fellowship Retreat, they came brimming with stories to tell.  This 48 hour whirlwind sample of Leigh Bortin’s Mandala Fellowship captured both son and husband. Barnabas … Continue reading →

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