Things keep falling down. . .and then the harvest comes.

In January, we had heavy winds for this area. They were impressive, but I think winds are much stronger in other, drier parts of the world. The trees here don’t seem to have deep roots, considering their size. It rains constantly. Trees don’t have to work for water, growing down deep to find it during […]

Peace on Earth, Good Will to You All!

A year ago, I wrote about our “rastafarian” Joseph and the challenges of writing about other people’s cultures: Skin-colored Felt: Doing other people’s cultures wrong. It feels like we’ve gone backwards in trying to understand each other this year. Our rastafarian Joseph still leans to one side. (He still needs that navy bean transfusion.) Our […]

The Olympic Games Blues: 9 Ways to Juice Up Your Writing Life

Local people call this building Zitronenpresse or the “lemon juicer.” What do you do when your writing life runs out of juice? © Laurel Decher, 2016. Do you need to turn off the Olympic Games? When my older brother and I were 8 or 10 or 12 years old, Mom would turn off the Olympic […]

Over at the Winged Pen, we’re writing about “getting the words”

I’ve collected some tips from fellow Winged Pen writers about how they get words on the page. I was surprised at the variety of techniques almost all of us use: daily word counts (or not), planning to write, the open sentence technique, and more. As a writer-friend said once, “Sometimes I think writing is continuous […]

Spring is coming. Let’s not give up on hospitality yet.

Forest road in spring green with a blue sky above. Kottenforst, Germany. © Laurel Decher, 2016. Is Migration Our Lot? Lately, I’ve been wondering if migration is our natural lot and living peacefully in one place all our lives a rarity. Cranes are migrating and their calls remind me of spring. The current news shows […]