An image creates words, but words also create images, each spiraling around the other like a gene chain building itself.
Ekphrasis of the Schuffeneckers
…ekphrasis–using a piece of art to inspire the narrative. If you want to try it, take a painting, sculpture, photo, or anything you see as art and begin studying it. Just spend time with it, looking closely, asking what the story might be.
Mother of the Bride, 2nd time Survivor
Sometimes the perfect dress is like armor you put on to face a day filled with uncertainty… a small help when you want to hide as you walk through the inevitable surprises that might just slap your face, leaving you stunned.
Wild Love & the Wrong Dress
Maybe you had a whole map for us, made of that blue ink—
and mothering feels like bleeding,
blue drips from the detours we took around your beautifully planned masterpiece.
It’s Only a Paper Moon
As I worked on this big moon I felt it was the one thing within my control, and my contribution to creating meaning and beauty in a world that often feels as if it is wobbling off course.
I Hope You Dance
When it was our turn to dance as parents I could hardly remember how to move my feet, but then John reminded me of the steps. He whispered quick, quick, slow, slow… I was a little numb at the time, but his words, simple as they were, made it to my feet, coaxing them into a rhythm.
The Ekphrastic Letter
Dear Mother,
I should’ve cleaned your fingernails before you died. I know dirty fingernails never bothered you, but in that last photo I took of you where your hands wrap around the ceramic mug of fresh coffee I brought with real cream, instead of the styrofoam cup of instant with powder packets you’d been getting—-in that picture the gleam is back in your eyes, feisty again, but a dark, dirty rim lines each fingernail. I regret not offering to clean your nails, but at the time it didn’t occur to me. You had lots of life left in you. You could’ve cleaned your own fingernails….
Mother’s Only Brother
Writing and remembering is about coming out from under the shadows into the joy of living and loving beyond the grave. I love this uncle I never knew.
Can We Rewild Motherhood?
What if, instead of confining women to some narrow social standard, motherhood could be the very thing to return us back to our original state as image bearers of an untamed God?
Midwinter Day
I’m inspired to think of a woman writing an entire book in a day, doubly inspired to know she did it with two small children running around.
Paper Doll Mom
This is an excerpt of a flash memoir piece I recently wrote. What artifacts do you have that might spur on your writing? It’s a fun way to play with items you’ve been left with while reminiscing through the past, bringing life to your present work.
Dream Travel
We put together a DIY writing retreat in which we will meet up at her family home in Brittany and work on our novels for a week.
The Jesus Chicken
When your kids say funny things, do you write it down? When they leave home you could hand them a book about themselves- a journal you wrote.
The Blueberry Baby
Have you ever told stories that later came true? Or have you ever listened to other people’s stories and felt you somehow absorbed them, changing your life forever?