Taking Root
Seventeen-year-old Delaney Moran is trying to make it on her own but panic attacks threaten to undermine her independence. Luella, a determined social worker, and Murray, the owner of a music store, want to help her but in doing so, they uncover a secret from her past.
My Writing Blog
Latest Posts
Marking Time
After I’d announced my retirement a few years back, a co-worker made a chain out of paper clips (one for each remaining day at work) and hung it from a hook on the back of the door to my office. “Remove one every day,” she said. Often, I find myself wondering what events might take […]
With Gratitude
I’m fortunate and grateful to belong to two groups of wonderful writing women. Each of the groups have been together for over sixteen years. We meet monthly, usually exchanging prompts beforehand and we encourage each other in our writing endeavors. Over the years, as we’ve shared our stories and life challenges, long-lasting friendships have formed. […]
What Words Remain
Dia de los Muertos 2022 When my grandmother passed away a long time ago, the only words she left behind were her handwritten recipes which I still treasure. She wasn’t one to write letters or send cards. If you’d asked me, I would have told you that my father was a man of few words. […]
Other Writings
Thoughts on Fishing
My junior high school English teacher asked each of her students to find a poem and bring it to class. Flipping through the pages of my parents’ Viking Book of Poetry, I settled on “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop. In exquisite detail, she portrays an ancient, grandfatherly fish that could fight no more. Old hooks and pieces of line were embedded in his jaw but what I remember most was the sadness and surrender she described in his eyes as she held him half out of the water alongside the boat, before letting him go. Her poem resonated with me in an almost visceral way because I’d often gone fishing alone or with my father.
Brenda Bellinger 