The Art of Storytelling

AI generated image of a winter nightmare. I had a dream last night. I was going to say weird dream, but most of my dreams are weird, so I dispensed with the qualifier. In this dream, I was hosting a dinner party. Once all my guests arrived, Knowing I had no food for the party, I told them I needed to go to the store to pick up something for dinner, so I left them. Then, rather than going to the grocery store close to my house, I drove to one 40 miles away in an old mall. Ther

The January Wolf supermoon rising over Ohio. It's hard to believe that this is only the 10th day of January 2026. So much has happened since New Year's Day that if feels like we are months into the new year. We look to New Year's as the signal of renewal and rebirth; unfortunately, this year seems to promise only destruction. I write because I believe in the power of storytelling. Words are magical, and we can use then to build worlds or destroy lives. When I write fiction, I

Poppy and Rooster waiting to get back inside where it is warm! My daughters joined us this week from their homes down south (Tallahassee and Atlanta) just in time to experience the incredible temperature change we experienced--a high of 60 on the 29th to a high of 23 of the 30th. It reminded them of why they fled Ohio, even though conditions were not much better back home. Their kids think of Ohio as the place it snows because in their memories, we always have snow on the gro

Sunrise on Christmas Eve, 2025. According to local weather reports, the high temperature for Monday will be 64, while the high temperature on Tuesday will be 26. Welcome to central Ohio. We have already had significantly more snow and cold weather than typical for this time of year (although I swear it snowed starting around Thanksgiving when I was a kid growing up), but it is still warm enough I could mow the lawn if I wanted at the end of December. Good thing climate change

Part of our holiday snowman collection. Their eyes follow you wherever you go. All of their eyes. The holidays are overwhelming. The older I get, the more overwhelming they become. I think it is because I am confronted with so many tasks that I am not very good at or that I dread, so I put them off until it is just too late. Procrastination is my enemy, but it masquerades as my friend as it spins it sorry tales of unlimited time and opportunity tomorrow or the next day, and I

A towering snow tornado wreaks havoc on a community. The polar vortex is weakening and deforming this winter, sending colder than normal weather spilling across the US and Europe, bringing increased opportunities for snow, and we get a taste of that this weekend. The efffects of this weakening are expected to impact us all winter. The long-term forecast calls for 'dynamic and unpredictable' weather patterns with 'the potential for significant cold air and snow events.' There

Blackburn-Smith family Christmas tree circa 2010. Last week, Denise and I spent Thanksgiving in a cabin in the north Georgia mountains with family, including four of our five grandsons, ages one to seven. Talk about boy energy! This Christmas we expect to have all five of our grandsons at our home to celebrate and we can't wait. I just finished putting together a new bunkbed that will allow the boys to share the same room and ensure no one gets any sleep the entire time. As a

AI generated image of poker players. Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. It has a purity about it that is missing from many holidays; we come together to share food and company and nothing else. Except when we play poker. My dad loved to entertain. The bigger the group the better. His first joy, learned from his father-in-law, was to take a group out to a restaurant and spend the evening over dinner, chatting and having a good time. He was no gourmet, so

Poppy and Rooster, the one-eyed Boston, my writing companions. I've always heard that it helps to have a writing group. Apparently, everyone has one. I'm always shocked when I read the acknowledgements page (and, yes, I read the acknowledgements) when the writer calls out twenty or thirty folks who have helped them shape their manuscript. Even I don't need that much help. Or maybe I do, and don't realize it. No need to respond. My writing group is Poppy and Rooster. Poppy is

Full moon visible in the west as an Ohio sunrise paints the fall foliage. Ohio is a missed opportunity when it comes to fiction. As a physical setting for a narrative, Ohio offers unique opportunities, a mix of metropolitan centers and the most rural of counties. We have farmlands, plains, rolling hills and the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The Ohio River forms our southern border, and Lake Erie and the Great lakes separate Ohio from Canada. Who knew we had an inter

AI generated image of a scared writer. The popularity of Halloween and horror movies suggest Americans love fear, or at least they love the emotional frisson of being scared without really being at risk. I would encourage them to give writing a try, an occupation that I find filled with fear. Fear of failure. I am not even talking about being afraid you will never find a publisher for your book, or if you do, that no one will read it. I am talking about the existential fear o

A brilliant blue sky over Centerburg, Ohio. Thursday, driving to work under heavily clouded skies, Willie Nelson's Blue Skies played on my queue. There is nothing remarkable about the song, but because of the dark skies, it reminded me of flying on an overcast or raining day and the absolute joy when the plane soars above the clouds into sunny, brilliant blue skies. It is hard to remember, when we are under heavy clouds, that it is always sunny--and the skies are always blue

Love: a novel of grief and desire The challenge of buying books for family and friends who love to read is the risk of buying something they have already read. That risk is reduced because many readers will eagerly reread a book they love multiple times (I do it to!), but I have a more foolproof solution. I can almost guarantee they have not read Love: a novel of grief and desire, which means they are missing out on an excellent story. Don't take my work for it: Love receive

Image: Jefferson and Denise June 26, 1982. Credit: Sue Johnson Smith. Sweetest Day happens next Saturday and I'm not prepared....

Image: AI Image of an indecisive writer I am happy to report that after 14 days in the hospital, two surgeries and ten weeks of at-home...

Image: AI generated image of the view outside my backdoor (when I am dreaming.) One of the reasons I write early in the morning is...

Image: AI generated image of an old man meditating. Note the foot with toes on both ends! I have long believed, and often shared, that...

Image: Ai generated image of an empty mirror. Do you remember the Hans Christian Andersen tale, The Emperor's New Clothes? It is the...

Image: AI generated image of IV bags My last post--three weeks ago!--was in celebration of Mom's 90th birthday. We had about 25 family...

Image: My Grandfather holding Mom in 1935. Next week, my Mom, Joanne, turns 90. That means she has been a citizen of the United States...