Mirka Muse

Here's a happy prescription to get in the holiday mood. First, steam some lactose-free milk. Second, use a whipping foamer and make ...

No, not that Clara Schumann This one We took her out of a kill shelter only hours before she was scheduled to be euthaniz...

Most writers I have known, or read interviews with, would rather keep their private lives private. Publishing, i.e. making public, is for ...

If you’ve read this blog before, you know how I rail against the standard/daylight savings time change. You must be saying “’nuff already,...

In early July, a post made the rounds in writers groups online and caused some consternation. You can read the original post here . ...

Some weeks ago, at a meeting of writers, I overheard an experienced published writer (I’ll call her Ms. Author) explain the journey to a y...

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, How does your garden grow? With silver bells, and  cockle  shells, And pretty maids all in a row. Olde E...

The other day I ran into Rona.* *(name changed) Rona was a girl I knew in one of my children’s classes. Rona has changed a lot. Rona i...

I have periods of high creativity and low creativity. But writer’s block isn’t invited to any of my days. I refuse to have writer’...

I know how to choose a good avocado at the supermarket, or a melon at the farmer’s market. But blimey if I know how best to market a boo...

Steven Spielberg said he makes the movies he’d like to see. It’s that simple. So it is for me. I write the stories I’d like to read....

Okay, I’ll put it right here. My heroes are the get-along people. Outside of literary fiction, you won’t find them much in stories. ...

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.” –Zen in the Art of Writing ©Ray Bradbury Why do I love this line s...

Despite the season, this is not about baseball. Pitching is also what writers do. Writers pitch to agents and agents then pitch to...

From the time my kids were little, summer was the time to recharge. A scheduled ebb to the flow of new creativity. The end of August was t...

Some months ago, a neighbor posted on the neighborhood board (called NextDoor ) that a mother deer had two fawns in her back yard. But onl...

I have a constitutional aversion to literalness. In my teens, I discovered  the awesome power and wisdom of scriptures. I could only d...

{🙀 The "you" in this post is mostly me waving a finger at myself 😼} {😽 You, the reader, are just fine 😻} As one w...

Ever have a day where nothing goes right? If you can relate to Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Vio...

“NEVER!” The answer we hear in professional conventions (yes, writers and artists have them too. Conferences are not just for scientis...

An Audience! In her excellent collection of essays about the writing life, ( Bird by Bird) Anne Lamott tells of her experience teachi...

If you hang around social media groups or chat boards for writers & artists, you’d have run into mentions of the best and worst times ...

Where I live, the San Francisco bay area, we do not have real seasons. The comment attributed to Mark Twain about this is rather famous: “...

The writing life is not the bleeding agony of the artist against the world. There is a strain in literature (and now in virtual reality) o...

A writer friend lamented that she gets feedback from readers who complain that her stories are open ended. “Isn’t that what real life is?”...

Yesterday, real-life micro-drama in my humble abode provided proof that the surprise twist ending, almost a cliché requirement in picture ...

Or— Ha! Yet another scummy scam L We all know by now that the IRS doesn’t call us on the phone asking us for supposed owed cash, pro...