How much more could I love our local libraries? The main branch of the Hunterdon County Library, where I also conduct workshops, recently held a short story contest. All of the stories are posted online, and you can read my own ‘God’s Teeth’ at the library’s website. LINK HERE.

UPDATE: My story placed third! From the Hunterdon Co. Library organizers:

Coming up in January: A weekly journaling workshop in Lambertville, NJ

REGISTER HERE

I’ll be conducting a weekly autiobigraphical journaling workshop every Monday, from 2:00 – 4:00 pm (eastern) at Bucks on Bridge Coffee Shop/Soupcon art space. It’s a great location for intimate workshops and it’s also a terrific way to support and be part of the community.

It will be $10 weeklyk ‘at the door’ or $30 for a month (4 or 5 weeks, excluding absences for vacation or travel).

Autobiographical journaling centers on thematic writing, with participants writing each week on a selected theme. Wokshops include handouts, thought- and conversation-generating ideas and suggestions, ice breakers, flash writing each week, and the pleasures of bonding with the group members while we all travel this path together.

Every life is a story, and each of us is the storyteller. Participants will join in journaling exercises, various weekly pre-workshop assignments (such as bringing in photos or objects of meaning) and a weekly theme-based writing assignment. Pen and pad are strongly suggested! In -person participants will receive the workshop outline (PowerPoint), complimentary folder, yellow writing pad, and pen.

Last night’s book launch at the New Hope Free Library. An essay collection by people who live in New Hope. These three writers are in my writers group! I felt like such a proud workshop instructor. And the library director singled me out when he gave a speech. I love libraries!

I’m excied to announce three online workshops coming up in December, with more online and in-person workshops planned for the new year. These will be held via Zoom from 2:00 – 4:00 pm eastern to accomodate participants in multiple time zones. (Workshops are limited to 8 participants each.) Just click on the links below to register. And now you can also purchase gift certificates for the writer in your life!

Gift certificates are good for any workshop or project. 

And now with gift certificates!

I knew when I first started helping Stacey Meadows publish her memoir about her son’s death in a car accident that this was something special. The writing is superb, and the emotions are as raw as they could possibly be. It’s both beautiful and devastating, with the promise of acceptance and healing as Stacey recounts her journey with grief. I’ll be giving this to my workshop participants as an example of an outstanding and well-written memoir.

About Pine Melody

Swerving to avoid a deer on a dark Wisconsin highway in early summer, 22-year old Gabe lost control of the car. His 29 year- old brother, Jonah, singing along with him as he drove, absorbed the full force of the impact with an oncoming pick-up truck driven by the Chief of a First Nation. The crash left Jonah with severe traumatic brain injury, Gabe with a broken femur, and soil samples, meticulously gathered for Jonah’s graduate research project on agroforestry, strewn across the highway.

As general counsel for a Philadelphia medical center, I was competent enough to interact with my sons’ care teams, but lost all semblance of professionalism when neither my legal expertise, search for a medical miracle, nor tenacity of my love was able to bring benefit to Jonah, who lingered in a coma for three months, before dying in hospice. I was left to find a way to carry on for the sake of Jonah’s brothers while handling my own grief and helplessness.

Immersing myself in Jonah’s journals, and memories of his extraordinary, spirit-filled life, my pillars materialized—meditation, yoga, prayer and sailing. With Jonah as my spirit guide, in the bardo and beyond, I navigated pathways between terror and beauty that Jonah had spent his life seeking. Pine Melody is the result of my journey.

I’m very pleased to have had the opportunity to help Stacey Meadows publish her memoir ‘Pine Melody.’ It’s about the death of her son Jonah, and her journey through grief. It’s an extraordinary book, and Stacey is an extraordinary person. The Kindle version is out now, with the paperback and hardback coming soon.

About Pine Melody

Swerving to avoid a deer on a dark Wisconsin highway in summer, 22-year old Gabe lost control of the car. His 29 year- old brother, Jonah, singing along with him as he drove, absorbed the full force of the impact with an oncoming pick-up truck driven by the Chief of a First Nation. The crash left Jonah with severe traumatic brain injury, Gabe with a broken femur, and soil samples, meticulously gathered for Jonah’s graduate research project on agroforestry, strewn across the highway.

As general counsel for a Philadelphia medical center, I was competent enough to interact with my sons’ care teams, but lost all semblance of professionalism when neither my legal expertise, search for a medical miracle, nor tenacity of my love was able to bring benefit to Jonah, who lingered in a coma for three months, before dying in hospice. I was left to find a way to carry on for the sake of Jonah’s brothers while handling my own grief and helplessness.

Immersing myself in Jonah’s journals, and memories of his extraordinary, spirit-filled life, my pillars materialized—meditation, yoga, prayer and sailing. With Jonah as my spirit guide, in the bardo and beyond, I navigated pathways between terror and beauty that Jonah had spent his life seeking. Pine Melody is the result of my journey.

I was just interviewed by author Bruce Bishop for his ‘Go Write Ahead’ podcast on YouTube. I’ve known Bruce for a number of years now, and had the pleasure of meeting him when we were on a cruise that stopped in Halifax, where he lives. Listen and watch as we talk  about self-publshing, my writing, and more.

Check out Bruce’s website and books HERE.

I'm entering a short story competition for the first time in many years. It's being held by the Hunterdon Libary System (LINK HERE), primarly through the main branch where I conduct workshops. I also run an adult writers group at the Clinton, NJ, branch. I don’t think it’s appropriate to share more than an excerpt before the competition (and I’m honstly not invested in winning – this is just me doing something I haven’t done since my 40s or earlier). You CAN listen to the audio version at the link above.

It’s called ‘God’s Teeth,’ and it’s about a woman who’d had a lifelong belief in God, only to see it shaken after the death of her husband. It’s one of my favorite stories, and I hope you’ll enjoy it. Once the contest is over in November I’ll offer the entire piece.

GOD’S TEETH 

Miriam had always believed in God. His presence in her life had been a fact since she was a small child barely able to speak. She remembered looking up from her crib—she could not have been more than a year old—and seeing his face shimmering in front of her as he looked down and smiled, showing his magnificent teeth. She’d made the mistake of telling a friend about it once in high school, and the girl had laughed at her, saying it was her dad or her uncle or big brother she’d seen. There could be no other explanation. Miriam said, No, it was God, and her friend asked how she would know the difference when she was only a baby then.

“I just knew,” she said. “I knew my father’s face, and my uncle’s face and my brother’s face, and this was not it. This was bright and . . . what’s the word? . . . luminous, self-luminous, illuminating. It made its own light, his face, and the smile was so big I was part of it, like it covered me, and I reached up —”

“This is pretty detailed for a baby’s dream,” the friend said.