I earn more writing novels than short stories — and you probably will too — For several years now, I’ve been earning the majority of my income by writing fiction under a variety of pen names you’ve never heard of. And it isn’t anything special about me. Thousands of authors you’ve never heard of are quietly making a full-time living creating fiction. True, thousands of…

Why I wouldn’t pledge allegiance in high school — I’m thinking about flags a lot these days, and not just because the stupidest US holiday, Flag Day, arrives on June 14. It’s because whenever I walk around with my parrot in a backpack, everyone smiles and says hi and acts all friendly, and yet I see Nazi flags springing…

Keep an eye on who your warblers are really feeding — It’s a dark scenario for Father’s Day when an adoring Daddy has been working morning, noon, and night to feed the child of the killer who kicked his own young out of the nest while they were still only a tiny egg. I switched to a high-octane no-melt peanut-flavored suet…

Submitting your work is an act of trust — In the 1980s, when I was first starting out as a writer, I knew a lady who wrote a draft of a romance novel and started showing it around to editors and agents. It never went anywhere. Or did it? A year or so later, bestselling romance author Janet Dailey…

Honored for thousands of years, this stone is still worth attention today — I just pulled these two pieces of Banded Agate out of my tumbler, and I couldn’t be more pleased. These serene stones take a wonderful polish and result in specimens that radiate a calm beauty I can’t resist. We so often underestimate Agate. In a society where money is everything…

The thrill of discovery — Many years ago, I received a large box of biggish stones in a rock swap. “Savannah River Agate,” said the old boy from Georgia who shipped them to my house. “Collected them myself.” Opening the box, I found a fairly random assortment of yellow, brown, and purple cherts and/or agates…

A dirty secret exposed in one simple image — scroll down if you’re impatient — Author’s Note: I originally submitted this story to a publication in a large family of publications. The “editor” has been snarking at me ever since. Yes, I blocked her, but I guess that’s why God created sock puppets. Since I wouldn’t have thought this story was intense enough to create…

How long after the sixth extinction will it take to restore biological diversity to its previous level? — On Endangered Species Day, May 19, I’m thinking of a talk I heard on the topic of migration, a phenomenon that may or may not exist by the end of the century. The speaker, laughing nervously, said something like, “I know it looks bad now, but all hope is not…

When your hobby seems mysteriously weird to other people — Years ago, a group of us had gathered for some New Age purpose I can no longer recall, and the leader asked each of us in the group to describe what we said about a particular person behind that person’s back. I no longer recall what I said or even…