Chrissie’s Blog

On 5 November, I underwent lasik eye surgery transformation in Roanoke, VA, with Vistar Eye Centers. I’d dreamed of lasik since my teens.

…I found my two contributor’s copies of the 2020 issue of Clinch Mountain Review. I’ve known for a while now that I had several pieces in this issue, but have been patiently sitting on that information until the magazine made its debut.

Recently, my good friend Gretchen McCroskey was named the Poet Laureate of the Poetry Society of Tennessee. It was done in a Zoom meeting. It was to remain a surprise to Gretchen; Gretchen hates surprises. Really, Gretchen loves surprises. She is like her friend...

As we prepared for our feline daughter Ebony’s death last week, I received sage wisdom from my friend Angie, who told me, ‘Give grief its hours.” I’d never heard it phrased this way before, and it struck me how often we try to hurry through grief, when it is a process that we must bear, or it will overcome us in some other way.

Sometimes you need to get away where no one knows your name. Where there is no one around except for the amazing guy who owns the place, and his amazing cat Dorie (and this time a family of feral kitties). A place where nature abounds, if that is your thing, for the...

I did something in September a bit out of character for me. I took a couple of writing classes. Normally, I would make a dozen excuses not to do something like this, mainly dealing with my lack of time. The truth is, we make time for what we want to do in life, more...