Master Prose class begins Aug. 29th.
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I am dictating the handwritten first draft of Chapter Eleven, entitled "Helmer," of my book-in-progress into the iMac. I would like to have sixty pages of OPEN FOR LUNCH ready for the start of class since every four weeks I need twenty pages of fresh manuscript for oral and written critique by my classmates and professor. 

I have come to love the critique process. Usually a full hour! So helpful!

I am beginning a spring/summer website slowdown to every other week starting today! Be watching for news, special announcements and a book teaser just the same. Check my events calendar for update of my whereabouts.
Writing can be solitary except when you are lucky enough to participate in a class. Once again I am back at the writing desk in a three-hour UNCA grad. class through Great Smokies Writing Program (see it on Facebook or the UNCA website)
With this go-round I am in an eight-person Prose Master Class with prof. Elizabeth Luytens, a master teacher and editor. Twenty pages of new manuscript are due every four weeks for oral and written critique.
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Any guesses what I'm writing?
PS Join me tomorrow and Saturday at Asheville Wordfest

​This couplet from William Stafford resonates with me so strongly after finishing my first book, MUSICAL MORPHINE: Transforming Pain One Note at A Time.  It has its own “season.” 

I am allowing the “call” of my second book to wait until I have a clearer picture of its order.  I have collected notes and written a statement of intention just to see where the early pen would take me.  

I like the direction it is going. 

Thank you to so many who have sent me this article and video (below) about  the “Threshold Choir.” These volunteer, amateur singers offer their own music at the bedsides of folks who are “actively dying.”  

The idea began in CA and now has many offspring in several cities.  I am thinking one in Asheville would be welcome.  

More docs need to prescribe or at least understand the value of music for patients!  For everyone! 

I recall when my Lake Lullaby CD was released, a friend was suffering with high blood pressure that was difficult to control.

Every day he was told to rest after lunch and began to play “Lake Lullaby”  as his napping music. (Funny, the subtitle of the CD is “good music for napping.”)   His wife was taking his blood pressure intermittently and noticed how her husband’s blood pressure was at its best when this music was playing.  

My cousin’s granddaughter screamed when she had to ride in the car.  “Lake Lullaby” over the car stereo calmed the poor little one and made everyone’s car ride more pleasant!     

Read article by AJ Block at The Didge Project

According to a recent article in Smithsonian Magazine, "The brains of people who get chills when the right song comes on are wired differently than others."

Many different genres of music cause me chills……..Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze;” Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Pie Jesu;” Handel’s “Xerxes;” and then “Whiter Shade of Pale,” “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” “Hotel California.”  Add some Christmas music like “In the Bleak Midwinter,” and “Wexford Carol.”  And I haven’t even begun with the old timey music and gospel and hymns. 

What music gives you chills?  

It's Thanksgiving Day. We are in Tallahassee, Florida with our son, Adam, his wife Carolina, and our granddaughter, Adela, age three.

My favorite guitar is with me and after dinner, there will be singing lots of children's songs and old favorites. Adam will play the Appalachian dulcimer, Carolina the baritone ukulele, and Adela the cajon drum. Gordon will snap pictures.

"The wheels on the bus go round and round..." Adela knows the lyrics in both Spanish and English. She is being raised dominant Spanish. Such joy.
I send you wishes for a glorious day of gratitude for our rich lives.

How are you spending Thanksgiving this year? Love to hear your story.