giving gratitude poem thankfulness

Thankfulness and Gratitude

Thanksgiving and thankfulness. I’m thankful for a life of devotion to love and giving. Love has many forms and moments.Prose isn’t well suited to capture them. Art can. Music and poetry are especially good for holding the experience. I call such experiences That. Those moments of extreme gratitude aren’t always about the person or dog or vista that sparks them. Sometimes That comes at the sight of a tiny dandelion struggling through packed dirt, or…

Continue reading

Character development conversation gratitude mindfulness neuroscience novel novel writing prayer

Your Protagonist’s Thought Patterns

Emotion is important in fiction, but thought and will are also a huge component of character and character development. You can identify with a character’s thoughts and decisions when she’s under stress. One of life’s pleasurable but stressful activities is travel. Since my novel’s main character is on a three-week, intensive tour of Renaissance Italy, stress is a given. May Gold combats it through her Gratitude Practice. I gave May this habit of enumerating things…

Continue reading

editor gratitude poetry

I Have a City of Gratitude on My Head

I am very grateful for a writing life. The city of gratitude for poetry and poets on my head is bigger than the Beach Blanket Babylon lady’s San Francisco hat. Like the BBB hat lady, I mentally wear a city of poets, writers, and literary projects for whose support and connection I’m immensely grateful. This year, I’m especially grateful to: * John Amen and The Pedestal Magazine & Ann Wehrman’s review of my book, Gods…

Continue reading