Letters to the Moon....

My Charge (Or "The Sacred Space") To be a published author is an amazing thing. It has created new opportunities and experiences I never dreamed of. When I published my first book, I learned the power within the pages. Readers have written me to tell me what my book has meant to them, how it challenged the way they thought about something, that they learned about a certain topic, that it changed their opinion on an issue, etc. Of all of the stories shared with me by my readers, I have been most touched by the emotional impact of what I have written. Many people have written to me to tell me how a certain poem made them feel. I have had people say that they could actually feel what I was feeling as I wrote a poem. To convey a thought or feeling or concept is the goal of the artist. However, to have the ability to change someone’s feelings with your art, to have an effect on someone’s emotions, to make them feel something, that is a true gift. To have t...

I sit at the computer and begin to write. Thoughts pour into my mind as I type. Sometimes the thoughts come faster than  I can filter them. The energy flows intrinsically. I sit with a pen and my favorite notebook and begin to write. My thoughts are faster than my hand can write. However it happens, by pen and paper or computer and screen, I continue to write. However,  I often find myself hindered, by judgment. "Is this good enough? Is it good enough to post on my blog,  to share with the world?" I think back to a conversation with a writer/publisher friend of mine that happened a few years back. He once told me: “Allow yourself write free of judgment. Get the thoughts on the paper. Let it be. Go back to it later.” Perfection is a cruel  thing for an artist. It can stymie creativity and can lead to insecurity and doubt. We want to create art and do it well. We want our art to be received well. We know within ourselves that perfecti...

Speak Your Truth (or "The Sexual Spectrums") As a writer it should not be a surprise that I am an avid reader. I feel that is a requirement of a writer, to read and to continue to learn. I read books and I keep updated on the news of the day, mostly via social media. I follow politics, stories about rights for women, the environment, war and peace, the refugee crisis, entertainment headlines, health and wellness, civil rights, and more. I never thought that reading one of these stories would change my life. One of the news agencies I follow on social media is the Huffington Post. The Huffington Post was created by Arianna Huffington and has a varied news base. They cover many of the topics listed above. I follow their main news page on Facebook, as well as their pages for news on Women, Lifestyle, Religion, Entertainment, Arts and Culture, and Good News. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ One day while on Facebook, looking at my News Feed page, where posts from ...

There are many things that are intrinsic to being a writer. For me, one of them is learning everything I can about the subjects that are interesting to me. One of the subjects that is interesting to me is the LGBTQ community, more specifically, the T in the LGBTQ acronym, which stands for transgender, often abbreviated “trans.” One percent of the world is transgender. Yet over the last few years a light has shone on the transgender community as it never had done before. In the year 2009, Chastity Bono, born the daughter of Cher and the late Sonny Bono, underwent a transition and is now a transgender male, Chaz Bono… In 2014 Laverne Cox became the first transgender individual to grace the cover of Time magazine. In 2015 there were several shows on television that featured transgender individuals. The first and most famous example that comes to mind is Caitlyn Jenner. In 2015 American Gold Medal Olympian Bruce Jenner revealed to the world that he is transgender, and was...