My Writerly Life

  • MELANCHOLY VERSE

    To the Greeks, melancholia was one of the four humors to be avoided—a black bile that brought on an unhealthy state of sadness, fear, mania; a condition that was negative and to be avoided. Over time, humans came to realize that there were appropriate times to be melancholy; to reflect; to grieve. I tend toward… Read more

  • COMING THROUGH SLAUGHTER

    Michael Ondaatje is a Sri-Lankan born Canadian poet and novelist best known for The English Patient, which won the Booker Prize and was made into an award-winning film. Ondaatje writes thought-provoking, lyrical novels about outsiders, the “other” – which makes his books rich for analysis and study. His early novella, Coming Through Slaughter, tells the… Read more

  • HAMLET BY ANOTHER NAME

    I came to William Shakespeare late in life, when pursuing a second Bachelor’s and then an MFA in literature. Multiple studies of the Bard were required at Portland’s Liberal Arts school, Marylhurst University. In those classes, I learned of the magnitude of Shakespeare’s contribution to literature–the timeless lessons on the nature of humans. Later, I… Read more

  • LITERARY WESTERNS

    While I worked on my MFA and the writing of my master’s thesis (WRANGLE, a novel based on Texas quarter horse racing) I also immersed myself in the best of the literary westerns published over the years. And that was a challenge—because there are not many of those. To look back in time, the West… Read more