Locked Out!
Of course, the garage door had slammed shut and the bolt shot home. I wondered whether this would qualify in the Guinness Book of Records as the most locked doors encountered in a single evening....
Read More
25
January
Blog
What Inspired the Writing of Bloodlines
In 2002, forty years after leaving, and at the behest of my wife and children, I returned to South Africa for the first time...
Read More
31
December
The End of Another Season
Cleaning and closing the house on the Cape brings with it the end of summer rituals...
Read More
25
October
When Serendipity, Truth and Religion Converge
Perhaps, just perhaps, I’m wrong about the power and willingness of deities to affect our lives...
Read More
23
September
The Reward of Writing Fiction
The stuff of everyday life makes us who we are, and it’s the job of the writer to identify those truths and make them accessible. We do that by finding the universal in the particular. We start out with the relationship between two people and...
Read More
27
August
What Would Mandela Say Today?
A century ago a man was born who knew that things could and eventually would get better. Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, in Mvezo, in what was then The Union of South Africa, a self-governing member of the British Commonwealth. He was born...
Read More
18
July
With Joy We Welcome Our Newest Grandchild
May the landscape of your life be as interesting and beautiful as the karst landscapes that give you your name so that you never lack for wonderous places to go and fascinating things to explore....
Read More
29
November
The Dangers of Forgetting Our Family Stories
I recently made an interesting connection that confirmed my strong belief in the importance of sharing family stories. At one of my presentations about converting family stories into fiction, a woman asked me about the history of my family name. Someone she knew had the same...
Read More
06
November
Reader’s Guide for On the Sickle’s Edge: Why Family Stories Matter
If you’ve found your way to the Reader’s Guide questions below, you may have already read On the Sickle’s Edge, or perhaps you’re considering reading it or making it a book club choice. Either way, I’m deeply grateful for your interest in this story based...
Read More
30
October
The Path to Creative Renewal: Take a Breather
When we’re really in touch with ourselves, we recognize the need for restoration as clearly as if it were a hunger for food or drink...
Read More
02
September
What I’ve Learned from Listening to My Audience
It was difficult to identify and put into words what I thought my listeners might get out of my presentation. But by going through that process, I developed a different relationship with them....
Read More
06
June