I hike year around. Walking, especially in the woods, restores my inner calm. For various reasons, I haven’t been able to hike or walk nearly as much as normal. There have been no long hikes in the mountains, or short ones for that matter. I am lucky in that I have good local trails with lots of woods surrounding them.
Continue reading “Birds On a Winter Hike”
Purgatory Mountain, North Carolina is the location for a short story I wrote for an anthology published in August 2020. As such, this hike focused on the trail, or rather, the area that wasn’t trail. My story timeline is the Civil War, and I needed to get the lay of the land and identify places where the action in my story could take place.
Continue reading “Purgatory Mountain: the Hike and the Story”
It’s been almost four months since my last post. Sometimes life takes you in unexpected directions. As part of my unplanned journey, I spent five weeks in Durham, NC. While it was a stressful time, there were good times too. Between appointments, we were able to hike every day but two during those weeks. Durham has some wonderful trails, but they aren’t mountain trails.
Continue reading “Hiking, Writing, and COVID-19”
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’m in a rush to kick fall out of my home and turn it into a postcard worthy celebration of “The most wonderful time of the year.” The weekend after Thanksgiving is when this transformation occurs.
Continue reading “Holiday Aftermath”
Stuck at a family reunion at Uncle Jerry’s cabin with no internet, no cell access, and no cable or satellite TV, the four cousins roamed the property. The only nearby village had the same lack of electronic access. With nothing else to do, they walked out the long pier and lay on their stomachs looking over the side into the water.
“Wish we could swim,” Sally said. “Do you really think this lake is as deep as everyone says?”
Continue reading “The Swim”
Alone in the bedchamber, the child placed the crown on her head and used pins to hold it in place. It was a bit loose, but Rani supposed she would grow into it. King Rian Sword Born, had died suddenly leaving one heir. Was she up to the task? She had expected years of training by her father’s side before this day. She had even envisioned becoming a mother first. Queen Rani looked at the crown on her head. This was not the formal crown placed on her head at the coronation. This was the working crown. At least, that’s what King Rian had called it.
Continue reading “Working Crown”
“Your quest is to see Keen’s Keep?” The silver-green dragon twisted his long neck down so that his head was eye level with the teenagers and inhaled their scent. The boy was a hedge witch, the girl a shape shifter.
Continue reading “Foolish Question”
Your computer – be it desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone – is a wonderful device, full of shortcuts for the aspiring writer. Continue reading “Save and Backup – Two Functions Every Writer Should Use”
N. R. Tucker 