Chrissie’s Blog
Highlands Summer Conference
Imagine a week of hanging out at a nature conservancy with about a dozen other people, deeply immersed in daily lectures, lessons, and writings about all things Appalachia. Your evenings are filled with readings and old-time music. You share an indoor, air-conditioned...
Mountain Heritage Lit Festival
The 18th annual Mountain Heritage Lit Festival took place at Lincoln Memorial University Friday, June 21-Saturday, June 22. Numerous sessions were offered by a talented staff of writers this year, covering general fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, as well as...
West Virginia Writers Conference Recap
The West Virginia Writers Conference was held in Ripley, WV, at the Cedar Lakes Conference Center, June 7-9. It was a grand conference with phenomenal speakers and workshops. I got to see several old friends and made a few new friends, too. The first session I...
7 A.M. Writing Group
I belong to a group of writers that meet every morning at 7:00 a.m. (except for Saturdays, when it’s 8:00 a.m.), to write to a prompt, provided by our fearless leader, Connie Kinsey. As a disclaimer, I do not make it every day. In fact, I took a hiatus for several...
“Do One Thing Every Day That Scares You.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
I’m not sure if I live up to Eleanor Roosevelt’s charge or not, but I think I come close in some way most days. Some days, the thing that scares me most is getting out of bed. Depression and anxiety can easily hold me hostage unless I push hard against them, so...
Lionel Richie
From “Hello” to “All Night Long” and every song in-between, the Lionel Richie concert at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville was everything I could have hoped for! The only thing I might have changed would have been for him to sing “Lady,” which he actually wrote for...