I can’t help it. I’m a poet intoxicated in springtime, renewal and faith. Step aside, war and riot, prejudice run amok, mass shootings and atmospheric rivers, ignorance abroad and becoming endemic. Step aside, the ruin of the world — it’s like the ruin of winter. And I am a fervent believer in humanity and spring. Evrywhere, I find evidence to back up my faith. To celebrate (before the next bomb cyclone drops on our heads…
Spring equinox I’ve forgotten to count the atmospheric rivers that have gushed across the San Francisco Bay Area, but the incredible deluge seems to have sparked a lot of literary ideas for me. When the 50 mph winds are bending trees sideways and sinkholes are appearing in the roads, it’s a subtle hint that you have nowhere better to go than your writing desk. I’ve cradled my laptop many of these dark, rainy mornings. I’m…
New Poetry February 2023 I seem to be writing more poetry in this new year. Lunar new year feels more like a fresh start than did January 1. Flexing my February 2023 without regard to form, publishing opportunities, or any of that. A form of journaling with line breaks and compression, if you will. A new year calls for new tunes. And haiku is returning in my reading hours, so I’m thinking sometimes with a…
People ask how I got the idea to send Jane Austen time traveling forward, rather than sending an Austen-adoring hero or heroine back to her era. Simple. I read a book called The Real Jane Austen, a Life in Small Things, and discovered a version of the author who would make an excellent main character. This Jane A. was not meek and sheltered, as history (and her family) liked to portray her. For one thing,…
In the San Francisco Bay Area and much of California, we’re experiencing a train of historic “atmospheric river” storms. Like a firehose pointed directly at the state’s northern region, we’re being showered with an epic series of heavy storms. Following our multi-year, devastating drought, the ground and reservoirs are not prepared to absorb this much-needed water. But as a weather geek, connoisseur of the names for extraordinary weather events, I can only wish everyone safe…
I’ve finished a novel and will see it published on December 27 of this year. Attending to a lot of the homework of promoting a new book, I find myself yearning for a new long-form story, wading through many plot, character, and title ideas, and yet frozen as the leaves that remain on the trees in this wintry month. I can’t summon energy to write scenes and do plot outlines, so I fall back into…
Some authors interview their characters. I enjoy that idea, but I decided to put a spin on it, and have characters interview each other. This week: Jane Austen, 200 years in the future, interviews her host and superfan Will Fleming, while visiting his estate. JANE AUSTEN INTERVIEWS WILL FLEMING
Radar Girls: A Review of Historical Fiction – Women in War I don’t normally read WWII historical fiction, but I made an exception for a favorite author. Reading Sara Ackerman’s lovely novel Radar Girls was a delight. And it made me nostalgic. Though I wasn’t born until after WWII, both my parents served during the war. I’ve long loved and connected with Hawaii, both from beautiful travels there and because my mother was born in…
Review of Jodi Taylor’s Time Travel Books If you could spend an hour in another century, where would you go? Would you time travel to watch a famous battle or attend a royal ball? Would you want to solve a mystery or observe daily life in another time? And if you time traveled in history and saw unexpected events, would you then try to set the historical record straight? That’s the premise of Jodi Taylor’s…
Jane Austen Time Traveler Why make Jane Austen a time traveler? With her wit and insight, I wonder what she’d make of our century — would the 21st century fascinate or repel her, and might she find love? She was a genius at exploring the morality and heart of her characters — their self-interest or goodness. She might find people very different in our time, or their essential strengths and frailties might be the same…