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Welcome to the first installment of Write Awake: Inspiration from The Elements, a 4-part conscious writing series. Writing an ecofiction novel has inspired me to connect with the Earth more often, even if it's from my office window. Just after the spring equinox, I took a much-needed digital break. I opened the windows to let in the fresh air and golden sunshine, laughed at the scampering squirrels outside, and "played the daffodils" on my Native American style flute.  To use

“I definitely have rituals, especially around writing. Wake up early and drink Courage tea.” ~ Alice Hoffman, author of Practical Magic When I first imagin ed a home office, I daydreamed about living in an old English manor with a stained glass window in the library and a circular, iron staircase leading to the second floor bookcases. There was a gold-encrusted mantel clock tick-tocking above a massive stone fireplace. A beautiful red Irish setter slept next to it on a burgun

If you were to disregard all of the file folders, books, and scribbled sticky notes, one of the first things you'd notice about my office is my fondness for the movie, The Wizard of Oz . Along the walls and bookshelves are postcards of Dorothy and The Wicked Witch, a stuffed Scarecrow, and a Cowardly Lion hand puppet. There's also an 18-inch rainbow on my desk. It's really a candleholder, a simple black ornamental bridge with small glass votives of red, orange, yellow, gre

Photo by Viva Luna Studios on Unsplash Tarot for Writers author Corrine Kenner got my attention when she wrote that writers are fortunetellers. I had never thought much about it, but when I read that famous authors like Stephen King and John Steinbeck brainstormed with tarot cards, I decided to try it myself. I had hit a snag with Seaglass Christmas . There was a gaping hole at the end of the manuscript where it is explained why the antagonist did what he did. The problem? I

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash Let me establish from the get-go that I love love candles. They create a relaxing ambience in any room and there’s nothing so romantic as a dinner with tall, flickering tapers, even if the meal is a boring plate of baked beans. I’ve read that famous Victorian authors like Jane Austen and Charles Dickens wrote by candlelight, as did Mark Twain and other writers who grew up without the luxury of electricity. Surprisingly, even 20th centur

Dear Santa, Guess where I am? I know you’re busy, so I’ll tell you. I’m at the Candy Cane Writing Workshop at Faith Camp Meeting Grounds and we’re actually writing with real candy canes. Well, not actually. I can’t lie to Santa. They’re really pens that look like candy canes. They were inside the red and white velvet stockings they gave us at the door. Well, maybe they’re not real velvet. Nobody’s told me one way or the other. That is the beginning of a letter that 8-year old