Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Cooking Through COVID

On the power of feeding people during hard times

Hard times have always pushed me into the kitchen, a place where I feel comfortable and safe. Feeding other people also makes me feel a little less powerless.

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Where I’m Coming From

Does the way we talk tell us who we are?

By the time I moved to Nashville, I had laid the groundwork to not immediately sound like I was from New Jersey, if I wanted. It also left me open to picking up a Southern inflection or two. Do I say “y’all” every now and then? Sure, I do.

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Believing in the Power of the Heart

Rockvale Writers’ Colony, a new retreat in College Grove, offers writers the time, space, and support they need

When my agent asked to see a complete revision of my work-in-progress, I didn’t know whether I could face it again. As with that tangle of cords and cables you stash in the back of your closet just in case you’ll need them, even though you’re not sure what half of them are for, I feared that if I pulled on one cord, the others would tighten into a death knot. How would I ever rewrite the whole book and hand it in on time? Fortunately, I had a plan: I’d apply to Rockvale Writers’ Colony.

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Glorious Patchwork

It’s the ragged patches that make us who we are

My parents weren’t car people, and they adopted a vehicle that only a bootlegger could love.

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Winter Solstice

December light is the sun with a migraine

Technically, astronomically, the solstice lasts three days. Time stands still, sort of, before moving in the sun’s favor. So, technically, astronomically, I have two more days in which to dry wood and make a real fire.

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