Mirka Muse

Or— The Right Word On this date in history, June 26 1963 to be exact, this faux pas registered: US President  John F. Kennedy  g...

*...almost {June 21 st 9:07 AM, PDT } So, we are just about to enter official summer. I was never fond of Summer, until I m...

“ Don’t take anyone’s writing advice too seriously. ” (Lev Grossman) Yes, that.^ Including my advice. Including my advice to con...

“ Kill your darlings.” William Faulkner paraphrasing Arthur Quiller -Couch ’s ON THE ART OF WRITING, 1914 It’s a jaunty sayin...

MY PRIVACY POLICY Or--- This Place is NOT a Site of Commerce In late May, a writing friend wrote in a panicked state and asked if s...

I stay away from politics on the Internet, because I have found that is makes good people behave and talk like bad people. Sometimes very ...

Bringing a new young kittenish feline into a home that already had two fully-grown self-possessed cats, we followed the careful guidelines...

It’s too easy to look down on addicts. If you have never experienced such an affliction, you can feel smugly superior to the poor souls wh...

Or A Sign for Our Times Some folks put declarative signs on their lawns or windows. Signs in support of a political initiative/senti...

A good friend who is a thoughtful intelligent person let me know she considers all writers, actors, and artists to be too self-involved. S...

When it comes to what picture book publishers are looking for, there are general please-don’ts some editors and agents have posted over ...

On the last day of the last year, noon-time December 31 2017, Mr. Monk vanished. He left to go in the back yard, and I have not seen him ...

At the SCBWI meeting I wrote about in the last post, I had an interesting discussion with the younger writers near me. It was about curren...

There is a valid suggestion, not only for artistic creative folks but for all, to get out of one’s comfort zone now and then. The ...

We frame our reality is stories. We remember life’s occurrences not in the continuous minute details of everyday, but as episodes, or chapt...

How can you make your blog/tweets/Instagram/site/whatever catch on? As one who has never had a post take over the Internet by storm,...

There are a lot of ‘how-to’ books about how to become a writer, i.e. one who produces regular output of writing with the intention to publi...

The Jewish holiday Purim, celebrating the Jewish people’s (once again) salvation from mortal threat, starts tomorrow evening. How ...

...or, in this case— BEYOND THE FIREWALL L One of the many perils of the internet, like the rest of life’s realms, are the fakers, th...

So I woke up feeling frisky. I decided it was time to respond. This response is to the likes of which I (and every writer I know) had recei...