Category Archives: Blog

Palouse Writers Guild, 2019

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The Palouse Writers Guild is an independent collective comprised of several local writing groups who banded together in order to bring professional development opportunities to the Palouse. Since first being formed in 2016, the Palouse Writers Guild (PWG) has grown from 15 members to serving over 200 area writers today. As a result of this overwhelming response, we are launching our own PWG webpage.

www.PalouseWritersGuild.org

The Palouse Writers Guild’s goal is to facilitate literary education by supporting writers’ groups, author readings, workshops, writing contests, and conference attendance.  Membership is open to writers of all genres and media, regardless of publication status. Anyone interested in free writing, critique, participating in writing exercises, attending literary events, or just socializing with groups of like-minded people is welcome to join.

Benefits of Membership Include

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Imbolg Lore

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This year, Imbolg falls on February 2nd, as that is the mid-point between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox.  This is the time of the Rowan Moon, when we long for winter to be over and begin seeing the first signs of spring.  Nowhere is this more evident than the lambing barns, where in the depths of winter the ewes bring new life to the world.  The word Imbolg roughly translates as, ‘the time of lactating ewes.’

This year I complied some information on Imbolg for my Study Moot.  Some of that information is presented below.

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Laughter and Libations, 2018

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There is nothing like bawdy, irreverent, and satirical drinking songs to put you in the holiday spirit.  This year’s edition of Laughter and Libations includes more songs and new recipes for favorite winter drinks.  Those interested in trying their hand at culinary delights will also find two alcohol infused recipes for “Figgy Pudding” which are sure to be crowd pleasers.

In addition to the new recipes, revilers will find three categories of songs: Continue reading →

Who Swiped the Dishrags?

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My article “Who Swiped the Dishrags?” appears in the November issue of IDAHO Magazine and talks about many of the wonderful surprises my neighbors have gifted me with over the years.  IDAHO Magazine can be purchased at BookPeople of Moscow.  Also, copies are available for check out from the Potlatch Public Library and the Moscow City Library.  If you somehow missed out getting a copy at any of those locations, you can always buy a copy online directly from the publisher at:

https://www.idahomagazine.com/shop/2018-11-november-2018-menan/

If you enjoyed this story you might also enjoy “Zucchini Bandits.”  Continue reading →

Book Review: Snow City

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Snow City, a novel by G. A. Kathryns  
Available on Amazon for $12.99

Hooked from the first sentence!

“Sometimes one has to dream very hard to keep oneself sane.”  From the moment I read the opening line in the prologue, I was hooked.  As the book progressed I wondered, who is really doing the dreaming?  What reality is she trying to escape?  Is this a futuristic dystopian SciFi novel or an exposé on mental illness?  And who is that dead girl?

Snow City is the creation of Echo Japonica, a reclusive guitarist, who strives to live in a perfect world.  A world that she created.  Unfortunately, the nightmares of reality spill into Echo’s dream of perfection for Snow City.  Those nightmares threaten to cause the entire system to collapse, taking Echo with it.  As Echo puts is, “Here [at the Blue Rose] I can be the simple, black-garbed and blonde-braided guitarist I was months ago, before gangsters and lost ghost have entered my life.  But gangsters and lost ghosts have entered my life . . .” Continue reading →

Building an Author Website

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This is the second part of a workshop I hosted for the Palouse Writers Guild on Saturday, July 28, 2018.  To see the first part of the workshop, click here: Building An Author Platform.

ESTABLISHING YOUR AUTHOR PERSONA

Even introverts publishing under a pen name need an author website and that’s why it’s absolutely vital to contemplate your author personal at the onset.  Some people are wholly themselves online, while others may use a pseudonym and have an online persona different from who they are in real life.  It is essential that authors figure out their persona BEFORE beginning to build their website; the website becomes the author’s identity.

 When editors, agents, and publishers receive queries from prospective authors one of the things they do is Google the author because they want to see the size and scope of platform, prior works, etc.  Readers also look for author websites.  The whole point of a website is making yourself and your work easy to find. Without a website the author simply does not exist. Continue reading →

Building an Author Platform

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I presented the following information at a workshop hosted by the Palouse Writers Guild on Saturday, July 28, 2018.  The second part of the presentation will appear in a separate blog post.

WHAT IS AN AUTHOR PLATFORM?

Author Platform Definition: The ability to sell written content (books, short stories, magazine articles, etc) because of who you are or who you can reach.  Simply put, a platform is your visibility as an author in the communities in which you participate. Continue reading →

Summer Lovin’

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June . . . love is in the air.  It’s the traditional month for weddings.  The solstice is upon us and the days are filled with light.  The wedding month traces its roots back to Celtic origins and the story of a marriage which resulted in an unnaturally long day.

Celtic mythology states that Dagda and Danu loved each other so much that they married in secret and hid themselves on the Earth in order to make love away from the prying eyes of the other gods. Their marathon love-making session lasted nine days and nine nights.  When Danu finally climaxed a great rush of water issued from her, creating the Danube River.  From their union the goddess conceived.  To prevent discovery of her pregnancy Dagda harnessed the sun and held it in place until Danu gave birth, thus their son was conceived and born on the same day.

The marriage of Dagda and Danu represents the union of a tribal god and a mother goddess, uniting land and people, a concept that remained popular in the sacral marriages of kings to their goddesses in later generations.  If the king upheld the duties of a husband well, the land and his people prospered.  Fail to show adequate love, respect, and devotion to the Goddess and the kingdom would fall into disarray, just like the household of any unhappy marriage.  And that is the whole point of writing today: sometimes relationships stumble. Continue reading →