For the past few weeks I have been studying classic poetic forms. I'm doing this because I want to be a better writer, but also because I've written a character who is a poet, yet he never writes any poetry. I want him to be a believable poet, so I need to become familiar with... Continue Reading →
He was seventeen years old and already wore the red. Cardinal Raffaele Sansoni Riario was the grand-nephew of Pope Sixtus IV. Although still studying canon law in Pisa, he had been invested by the Holy Father with the diplomatic powers of a Papal Legate. It was under the Pope’s authority that he was in Florence.... Continue Reading →
I keep a commonplace book where I collect phrases, proverbs, sentences, or ideas like a haphazard bouquet of wildflowers. I pick them as they come to me, with no curation save what I share on this blog. In this series, I’ll offer a quote and meditate on why it deserved to be preserved in my... Continue Reading →
I love notebooks—I think every writer loves notebooks. There’s something about a virgin piece of paper and the unbent binding that beckons the writer onto some adventure. It becomes a new companion. A friend, a lover. Someone to whom we pour out a best and silliest ideas. Some of it is useful, some of it... Continue Reading →
Am I qualified to talk about music? Probably not, I haven’t read a lick of sheet music since I was in High School; the last instrument I played was for my Junior High String’s band. That said, I know what I like and I have a deep appreciation for music. It has always been a... Continue Reading →
The Salon at Elfland 