Who can resist chronicling their life in one form or another? I don't do daily journaling or blogging, and until I started a memoir recently, I didn't write many conventional memoir pieces. Yet, at times an incident or phase of life is so troubling or exhilarating that I must write to discover its deeper meaning. I've often carried the trials and tribulations of my life into fiction, and I've been far more interested in using dream journals to track my inner life rather than sharing realist drama. As dreams mirror our inner conflicts and triumphs, so can these absurd bits of wisdom be translated into compelling fiction (and can no doubt could be used in poetry, memoir, and creative nonfiction too).

While visiting Nairobi and Lamu Island, Kenya during the 2010 SLS Kenya and Kwani Litfest extravaganza, I opened a blog, Jellyfish Day, about "jellyfish, sundogs and sundry digressions on the writing life." I share my thoughts about the writing life, invite guest bloggers to write about their work, and occasionally interview authors and review their books.

Before I embraced blogging, most of my creative nonfiction has  revolved around describing the "real world" - my expression for the natural world - and my close encounters with wildlife during my thirty-six-year sojourn in Arizona. Between editing and fiction projects, I nurture this collection of nature essays titled Natural Soul: Meditations. I recently had the pleasure of crafting one essay and beginning another at the Silence. Awareness. Existence Residency in Haukijärvi, Finland (November 2016). 

Some eureka moments have illuminated my life in recent months, and I started to write a memoir, something I never dreamed of writing. I've tackled a rough chapter outline, an intro, and a first chapter. I'm taking the rest slowly, with no plans to rush through the project and complete it any time soon. Writing a fine-tuned recipe that needs some slow simmering to bring out the best.