I plan to participate in a fund raising walk for the ALS Association on September 19th. My cousin Michael Fitzgerald, in his early fifties, has been coping with this progressive disease, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, for over five years. I’ll be joining his team, Fitzy’s Family and Friends. You can learn more on … More ALS walk

I’ve finished another revision of Wandering Time. It’s been a long process of learning and growing as a writer and I think it improves with each revision. So, I’ve started sending out agent queries again. A good way to connect with agents is to attend a writing conference and there’s a one day SCBWI regional … More Querying

Peace Chorale update: Anyone interested in joining the Santa Cruz Peace Chorale, September rehearsals are open enrollment. We especially need sopranos, but everyone is welcome. No auditions required. Everyone can sing with some dedication and commitment, and the quality of performances is amazing! Come to a rehearsal. They are open every Thursday evening in September … More News and events

For anyone interested in joining the Santa Cruz Peace Chorale this coming year, the annual member retreat will be held this Saturday, August 21st, 12:30 to 6:00 p.m. Aileen Vance, our director, writes: Who:prospective members, former members, friends of SCPC, & current members are all welcome to come join us for an afternoon of great … More Peace Chorale Retreat

On July 31st I wrote about the possibility of Vision Recycling losing the contract to recycle Santa Cruz County green waste into garden mulches. I’ve just received the following by email from Vision: This past Friday the 13th John Preisly the head of Public Works in Santa Cruz called Tom Del Conte to re-negotiate Vision’s … More Vision Recycling Update

I’m sorry to say I just learned the East of Eden Writers Conference, which was to take place in Salinas in September, had to be canceled this year. I looked forward to attending for the first time. The conference was another casualty of the slow economy. The city closed its community center and the registration … More East of Eden Writers Conference

For those of you interested in studying midwifery or lactation consulting, or in becoming doulas, there is news at Aviva Institute, the online school where I teach. Aviva is in the process of a reorganization with some new leadership and procedures to improve the running of the school. One of the changes is the announcement … More Midwifery news

I previously blogged about the Vision Recycling programs for recycling kitchen and garden waste for Santa Cruz County. My Master Composter class was hosted at the Vision facility at the Buena Vista landfill in Watsonville and given a tour. Since then the kitchen scrap composting has been outsourced to another county and the Ecocomp that … More Vision Recycling for Santa Cruz County

Mary Kole on her Kidlit site wrote on July 21st an article entitled “Do Unpublished Writers Have to Blog?” She makes some good points and basically her answer is “no”, unless you have something to say. She has echoed some of my feeling that I don’t want to post things on my blog that are … More To blog or not to blog

I am reading John Gardner’s THE ART OF FICTION and, in spite of his academic style and extremely long paragraphs, I’m gleaning some excellent writing advice. I’m less than half way through the book, but I want to post this sentence: “Slowly, patiently, with the patience that separates a Beethoven from men of equal genius … More The Art of Fiction