Monday’s Poem

Sherlock Holmes and the Dogs Are at It Again: Run-on sentences: Annoying vs. Art — What’s the difference between a run-on sentence and a long sentence? A run-on is usually long; however, a long sentence is not necessarily a run-on. A run-on sentence is grammatically incorrect. It also lacks sign posts for the reader to know how the clauses or thoughts are related. …

A Fibonacci Poem: Drift The Fibonacci numbers are Nature’s numbering system. They appear everywhere in Nature, from the leaf arrangement in plants, to the pattern of the florets of a flower, the bracts of a pine cone, or the scales of a pineapple. …

Once Upon a Time Homophones Once upon a time there were three homophones — their, there, and they’re. They had no house in the woods, nor did they eat porridge, sit in chairs, or sleep in beds. But they were often annoyed by a nervy blonde chick (me), who treated…

I Was in Love with a Boy from Manchester — Before Darius Rucker, before Bruce Springsteen, before the Rolling Stones, before the Talking Heads, before Willie Nelson, before Santana, there was my first heartthrob. I was eleven and madly in love with a pop singer from Manchester, England named Herman, of Herman’s Hermits. I quickly discovered his real name was…

December 31 — I open my refrigerator and find that nothing has changed. The mayonnaise is still sitting in front of the plastic container of flour I keep cold just for scones. The butter sits neatly wrapped in foil as if it were something special, deserving of its own drawer. From the kitchen…

The Virgin Mary Was One Tough Cookie — I was bound and determined to get this winter post out by Christmas. I had everything ready except for my “Growing Up Catholic” blog. But I had one of those moments when I stared at the screen, and nothing happened. I went for a walk — nothing happened. I tried…

Confessions of an Escape Artist: Sneaky Words — When I was four, I sneaked out of the house. I figured that if I duck-walked below the kitchen window and hugged the picket fence until I got to the street, I could make it to my aunt’s house two doors away without my mother seeing me. I figured right…

Wouldn’t you like to smell bread baking, listen to a melodic symphony, taste a juicy watermelon, watch an action film, or feel the wind in your face while sailing on a summer afternoon, rather than have someone telling you about it? — When we read, we experience these sensations vicariously. A good writer makes readers smell, hear, taste, see, and feel what’s going on. One of the easiest and most effective writing tools to accomplish this is to use the active voice. Put simply, the active voice is when the character (or…