The Dining Room Team Turns It Around

The Dining Room Team Turns It Around

Our trip on Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas recently was a rather rocky ride, and I’m not talking about the waves or weather at sea. So many things went wrong that I won’t even try to recount them in a blog. Let’s just say that if the 80’s Cruise sailed a...
Remembering Ron Houchin

Remembering Ron Houchin

I first met Ron Houchin at the Appalachian Writers Workshop in Hindman, KY, in 2009, I believe – it was first year at Hindman. He was one of the first people I remember seeing. He always wore a ballcap of some sort, t-shirt, and faded jeans. If there was ever anyone...
After All the Thrill is Gone

After All the Thrill is Gone

I fell in love with Duran Duran on the Friday night the week after Thanksgiving week in 1984. Yes, I remember it that specifically. It was at my friend Pam’s house. Neither of us had MTV. We lived so far out in the sticks that we couldn’t get MTV, so we got our weekly...
The Body in Your Bed

The Body in Your Bed

Beauty is the eye of the one who looks at the overall situation. There’s something precious in almost anything, if examined in the proper light. Let’s talk about something so many tend either to gloss over, or to brutally attack: the body in your bed. No...
Hire Yourself

Hire Yourself

Every once in a while, I sit in on a session of writing prompts provided by Nickole Brown and her wife, Jessica Jacobs. Only occasionally, because they’re poetry prompts. And there are wicked-talented professional-level poets who tune in for this group and I feel...
Pay It Forward

Pay It Forward

Most of us are familiar with the concept of paying it forward – doing a kindness in return for a kindness paid to you. There was a great movie called Pay It Forward with the kid from The Sixth Sense in it. But did you know that there is an actual holiday for it?...