It’s scary sometimes how you can be going along in your life thinking you’ve got everything all sewn up, and suddenly you don’t. I hit my sixties and felt I’d finally gotten […]
Knives Out: A Love Story With Wicked Edges
How to Win NaNoWriMo When You Don’t Feel So Good
I first participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in 2012, back when I was the faculty advisor to a creative writing club. I felt happily pressured to set an example for […]
Wish Your Dog Were Better but Obedience Bores You?
If you’re like me, dog obedience training is like eating kale. You know it’s good for you, but it’s rough going down. If you have an energetic puppy, an easily-spooked rescue, a […]
A Survivor of a Free-Range Childhood Reflects on Love and Cake
I recently learned that, as a child of the 1970’s, I was raised free-range. It makes for healthy chickens, and probably healthy humans too. Back then, free-range moms opened their legs and […]
5 CampNaNo Moments, or How to Crank a Book in 30 Days
1. Set aside unbroken blocks of time to chain yourself to your computer. Physical Therapist: Okay, how’s the sciatica? Me: Horrible. I’m having a real setback. Physical Therapist: I thought we were […]
Fitness for Dog Lovers of a Certain Age
Hi, my name is Lisa and I’m in my third year as president of the Upper Suncoast Dog Training Club. That means, basically, I drink and I throw things. Frisbees, tennis balls, […]
Why Artificial Intelligence Can’t Kill Your Next New Favorite Poet
As you may have noticed, a tsunami of existential dread is sweeping creative writers and writing professors. The basic chorus of post-apocalyptic dread goes something like this: However, happily, the 2010 poet […]
The Ghosts of Halloween Costume Fails
I’ve had some Halloween wins in my time. The aces were always group costumes, especially my gang of friends who went together to Halloween swing dance parties. One year we were The […]
August Siren Salon: Does the Latest Breaking News Kill or Cure Your Creativity?
Does staying informed tune you into the zeitgeist or plummet you into paralysis? Are you able to stop the 24-hour news monster from gobbling up all your writing time? Do you secretly fear that if you unplug, your art […]
Hack Your Mood With Two Surprisingly Simple Tools
One of coolest things I ever did was design a Nature Writing Class for Eckerd College. We held class outdoors in nature preserves all over the county. My aim was to help […]
The Gloria Sirens 