My Blog

My Mockingbird Muse

Harper Lee is a bonafide celebrity who shunned the spotlight for decades. Still, I give Shields props for trying to scale a privacy wall so painstakingly erected by Lee that it still looms in this age of-too-much-personal-information. How quaint is that facebookers and my tweet peeps?

Writing Forward

But as I faced the audience of writers I saw myself in their eyes. I understood their rapt attention and a palpable hunger for answers, strategies and connections to make their writing dreams materialize.

Ageless Dreams

Virginia Shelton, 105, reminds us that we are never too old to dream big. Yesterday, the spry and sociable Shelton met President Barack Obama when he stopped in Richmond to rally voters. And he hugged her not once but twice

Troubled Tides of Tuvalu

While there is disagreement about what causes Tuvalu to be one of the most vulnerable places on earth to the rising waters, the Tuvaluans are certain about this: high tides are ruining their main crop, submerging fruit plantations and eroding coconut trees. Sea water actually bubbles up through soil.

Pedometer + Hike = Bliss!

A perfect breeze whispered for me to stretch out and enjoy a nap just like a couple sleeping on their bellies several rocks away. But the gurgling dance of the river cascading through the Fall Line hypnotized me. Serenity among the skyscrapers. Where had I been?

Telling the Henrietta Lacks Story

Earlier that evening, when I scanned the jammed-to-capacity crowd listening to Rebecca, I was struck by the diversity of her book-clutching admirers. This story weaving African-American history, medical research, bioethics, greed and a family’s struggles connected with readers on so many levels.