Category Archives: Uncategorized

Dynamic Writing Workshop in Magnificent Lismore Castle–Registration Open

PLEASE NOTE DATE & TIME CHANGE & REDUCED RATES. THIS IS NOW A WEEKEND MASTER WORKSHOP. I am thrilled to return to Ireland in December to teach my “Brilliance of Brevity” workshop in Lismore Castle, Waterford, as part of the exciting Abroad Writers … Continue reading

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Winners Announced of Abroad Writers Conference Flash Fiction Contest

Heartfelt congratulations to the following winners of the Abroad Writers Conference Flash Fiction Contest. Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize Winner & F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Literature, selected the three winners: 1st Place: Darothy Durkac   — … Continue reading

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The Places He Brought Us

After the nurses removed Dad’s life support and feeding tube, he was transferred from the ICU to a small single room in AB Cleary ward, allowing us privacy and 24/7 access. Think ABC I told my brothers and sisters, on … Continue reading

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Crazies

Dad’s married, middle-aged neighbors two doors up are deaf and dumb and they beat on one another. The beaters have two teenage daughters, aged maybe 14 and 18. In the past almost two decades, during my annual visits to Ireland, … Continue reading

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Intensive Care Unit

Dad’s surgeon, a vascular professor, is also a singer-songwriter. Jaysus, don’t tell me that, Dad had said, he’ll be thinking more about his singing than me on the table. I pictured the singer-songwriter surgeon with a knife and fork aimed … Continue reading

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Singing

It would be wrong not to tell you how much I laughed with my brothers and sisters in the six weeks while Dad lay dying, in the week while he lay dead. How much we sang together. Laughed and sang … Continue reading

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Sniper

Yesterday, for the first time, I shot a gun. I aimed, fired straight, but overreached, missing the tin can by inches. After, my arm hurt from the rifle’s kickback. I wish my arm still hurt. I wish I had shot … Continue reading

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His Heartbeat in my Hand

Dad is dead. He died last Sunday, on July 21st. The Lord’s day. He died after six weeks in hospital, 3 in ICU on life support and 3 on starving with his ventilator, dialysis, heart meds, and feeding tube removed. … Continue reading

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Height For Hire

It will be 5 weeks tomorrow since Dad’s Abdominal Aortic Aneurism (AAA) surgery. A surgery that went horribly wrong and caused massive internal bleeding, leaving Dad with several small brain strokes and a massive spinal cord stroke that paralyzed him from the chest down. It will … Continue reading

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“Overshadowed” Overshadowed

A few days ago, thanks to the wonderful Vanessa O’Loughlin, my personal essay “Overshadowed” appeared at Writing.ie. Little did I know at the time of writing the essay (about my mother’s death in April) that I would return to Ireland … Continue reading

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