It is almost two months since my new book Beauty in the Ashes: Learning to Lament was released. I have tried to start this blog post a number of times since then, but the emotions have been so large, and the words have been so elusive that it would not settle into anything cohesive. Like … Continue reading Some thoughts after releasing a book
hope is an emberthat glows faintly in the hearth its feeble flickersigns of its strugglebefore it subsidesinto cold ash lean close,breathe on itgently,carefully bring itto life again Jodie McCarthy
As you sit, pen in hand, the blank page of promise before you. May inspiration arise within. May words flow strong and true, dripping from your pen like dewdrops. May you shake off the doubts, and comparisons that assail from all sides. Discarding them like an unwanted coat. May you … Continue reading Prayer for the Writer
remember we say because our memories are like sieves and we don’t remember from day to day but he he can never forget though he tries with medication and alcohol and activity the images haunt him day and night more real than reality he still flinches at the sound of a helicopter overhead heart racing schooling … Continue reading Remember
I was sitting by myself at the café, absorbed in my work, quietly writing and they passed by my table. As I knew them a little I nodded, and smiled. But they took that as an invitation and stopped. So I lay down my pen, and half-heartedly started a conversation with them, hoping it would … Continue reading the uninvited guests
A large part of my writing journey this year has been understanding how I work. Figuring out what my process looks like has been as important as the actual writing. Sometimes you work out your process by implementing ideas that work. For example, I have discovered that for my writing day to work well, it is … Continue reading on voice, process and learning