I’m sitting here in my writing space, glancing out the nearby window between typed words, enjoying how the bare tree branches seem to crack the gray sky into fragments. I like these quiet days when Mother Nature is still trying to decide between winter and spring. The nights are blustery and cold, while the afternoons

Do you remember back when postal mail was magic? The mailperson was a blue-collar Santa, and my mailbox was Santa’s bag. On any given day, opening the miniature doorway might reveal a package or envelope of mystery. It didn’t even have to be December, and there I was, tearing into a present with perhaps only

I apologize for the late post this month, but I just got back from the intense, overwhelming, satisfying, and exciting experience of vending my first major convention, which took place in Virginia this past weekend. This was the longest trip I’ve taken in a long time, and I’d been fairly nervous leading up to it.

I’ll be up front about something: The transition from one year to the next is always hard for me, as it is for so many others. I have this tradition of going back to a list of goals I wrote last New Year’s Day in my journal, checking off the things I actually accomplished from