A State of Mind

Category: About Me

  • On Writing Poetry… with a nod to Miss Edwards

    I have always been a writer.  At age twelve, more or less, I wrote a novel.  Although I don’t recall any details of the plot, or characterization,  I do remember a name…Joyce Reena Phane.   That was to be my pen name, I believe.  To me that name was beautiful, and the very essence of…

  • Photographer or Pitcha-taker?

    Once, decades ago, the Chief Photographer at the newspaper where I worked  asked me a question that has remained in my thought-processor to emerge every once in awhile: “Do you want to be a Photographer?  Or just a Pitcha-taker.?” At the time I had only recently began providing photos to accompany my news stories.  I…

  • Namesake

    Some have a sailing ship named for them, with duly lauded verse Others have a baby relative named in their honor, for better or worse For me they named a hurricane Patricia…and I’m simply blown away (with apologies to Mexico…)

  • Some True Facts and Confessions About Blogging

    Today I managed to spend the entire day blogging, with exceptions for hauling the son around and feeding the cats.   By “blogging” I mean visiting lots of other bloggers online, trying to get my photos to cooperate, and writing in my blog. All my writing life I have felt guilty and self-indulgent when I spent…

  • How Stupid Can We Be? commentary on common sense

    uh…what a loaded question is that! In the past half hour, tops, I began to wonder anew…how stupid could Stupid Be?   I turned on CNN fully expecting to getting some clues to that question, and was not disappointed.  (No dig at CNN…the completion is much worse.) One– American fighter pilots have been told to…

  • There’s Work to be Done…but Poetry is SUCH Fun!

    Writing 201: Poetry, Day Six — Faces, Found Poetry, Chiasmus (what the heck is Chiasmus?)             Booksellers Lament Books in order means order in books to find them is the key with thousands of books the ONE that is wanted is the one nowhere to be found. Well, it MUST be somewhere unless it was…

  • A Thousand “LIKES”…Wow! (Thanks and a photo of ME)

    Yep…just got the notice in my message box–the one with the little bell that shows up when I hear from a follower.    This is very encouraging. This is a photo of ME…trying to hide behind my camera. One of my experimental shots…me taking a picture reflected in the glass door. <eye roll>

  • What Do Readers Really Want?

    So far I’ve published 105 posts, covering all kinds of subjects from poison ivy to politics. Hmmm…do I see a pattern here?   Just kidding.  Poison Ivy is real and annoying, and Politics–surreal and ridiculous sometimes. I’ve written about myself…mostly adventures and quirks.   Other posts featured butterflies, Cuba, TV shows, Will Smith, the Aztec Calendar, and…

  • More About Me…a sort of Newsletter

    [Writing an ABOUT PAGE always reminds me of the “Holiday Newsletters” we used to get from relatives and friends—some welcome and fun, others not so much and more of an obligation to read.   I hope my About Page is informative, not obnoxious.   I offer these facts about my life for some kind of context for…