Greetings reader…

I remain largely a cave dweller – mussing and muttering – but have added Internet living too. Deciding to engage in online classes, learning to write children’s books, has been quite a road trip and super challenge. Writing and posting in 2026 for Internet views is far away from what I have published in 2009.

Beginning with two courses on the exact topic I had in mind, the path led me away from children’s books, to writing short stories and poems to the challenge of contest entry rules. 

The contest tells you what subject matter is to be judged, and you write to that theme.

The first contest I entered was about some “storm” you experienced in life that still impacts you. It could be an emotional tempest, or weather related.

That was up to the writer.

“Not a Purple Top Turnip” – my contest entry. It tells the story of my adoptive name change – how it altered my life – and how it concluded.

“Reap What you Sow” – is my first attempt at a poem. The contest rules were to write a “ladder” poem with one word per sentence. You could have your theme go up the “ladder” or down.

My one-word line “ladder” poem – concerns food scarcity, a very troubling problem for our world today.

I still craft and garden – but have replaced sequins, glue gun sticks, and garden soil; with words of handcrafted sentences – producing a story or poem.

I like the new path I’ve wandered down and wonder where it will lead…

-Leika