Critic Spotlight – The Art of the Pan

Being a critic is a tough gig if you’ve struggled with being a people pleaser like me. I know how much work goes into creating even a bad product–be it a book or a meal. I also know that judgment, by definition, is subjective. So I fall into the kinder,...

Battle for Publication with Battle for Grace

Some books take a long time to birth. Such has been the case with Battle for Grace: A Memoir of Pain, Redemption and Impossible Love, the book I wrote with Cynthia Toussaint and John Garrett. Battle for Grace chronicles Cynthia’s struggle against a crippling...

To Blog or Not to Blog

Worried about writing a blog? The first question to ask yourself is whether you really need to blog. Maybe you don’t. If you’re selling carburetors, unless you have a unique technique for restoring them or unless you race or show vintage cars in which...

Languages Are About More Than Words

When I was in college, I took a bilingual creative writing class. Most of the students, including me, wrote stories and poems in either English or Spanish, or sometimes in both. Since I’m also fluent in French, having lived in Paris as a kid, I also wrote in...

Why Blogging Is Critical

“Are people still really blogging?” asked a friend of mine when I announced that I was going to start helping people as a blog coach. After more than a decade of working with individuals as a writing coach, it just made sense. Yes, people are blogging,...