My dear Mr. Dickens, I hope you are well and not at all rolling over in your grave. (It is, after all, nearing Christmas and renditions of your famous holiday tale are promenading before audiences who are mostly wondering whether they actually turned off the oven or whether the turkey they pretend to like is…
I was inspired this morning as I walked to practice piano for an upcoming recital... this would have been great, had I been inspired to practice. Rather, I was inspired to set the opening of Wordsworth’s The Prelude to music. My roommate (bless her) stopped me just in time: “Ryanne, if you write a melody and…
I am this season’s child though I am dressed as spring: The burning gold of fall is hid beneath the flow'rs I bring. While storms of thought are whirling, and swirl within my mind, All you see's the cloudless blue of clear sky in my…
I took this photo on a sunset run and added the words (surprise! They were not actually fabulous skywriting!) as I was doing some reading later. The exercise, combined with the wisdom of St. Hildegard, were a welcome relief to an emotional day. Sometimes on overcast days like today, we fail to remember the sun.…
Yesterday was the birthday of renouned American author, Ray Bradbury. Three more years and we can celebrate his 100th birthday. But even in 2017, Bradbury's birthday is special to me because his stories provided the kick-in-the-pants I needed to take my writing seriously. Before entering high school, my family and I made a trip to…
The world is a mess. Whatever your political views, we can all agree that it's a rough world out there. However, while the news is increasingly depressing, I found an unlikely hero to cheer me for a few hours: Winnie-the-Pooh. Somehow I grew up reading everything in reach yet missed this classic! So I decided,…
Went to the children's classics section in search of some light reading...now I am just wondering how many poor young Winnie-the-Pooh fans have been traumatized by Poe instead... Perhaps Eeyore likes Poe's stories. "Nevermore" seems like his type of vocabulary. Still, "Welcome to your nightmares" is a daunting phrase to put on a book beside…
It's Book Lovers' Day! Perfect timing to have my first draft printed! My mom was so amused at my excitement that she turned a picture of my manuscript into a baby announcement. 😂
I often refer to my novel as "my baby" and I know this is a tiny bit weird. But, being a writer, I really could not care less if I'm weird. Still, I think I have a valid point when I call my novel a baby, as... "Writing a Child" It changes each…
Too often, I find myself staring in admiration at my bookshelves. The ornate covers of collectables, the crackled pages of old favorites, the bright illustrations of new editions... *sigh of delight* To my abashment (isn't that a lovely word for a not-so-lovely feeling?), I own and admire many books I have yet to actually…
