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Tag: writer

Historic Texas Graveyards: Athens City Cemetery

Last week, my husband and I explored Athens City Cemetery (400 Prairieville St) in Athens, Texas. It had been a full day, so we very nearly skipped the graveyard. We were both hot, sweaty and tired, having already spent the day at the nearby Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center (photo essay forthcoming!) as well as poking around the town square looking for historical markers. An emergency stop at a Braum’s Ice Cream shop for a couple of hot fudge sundaes – strictly medicinal, mind you – gave us the second wind we both needed for further explorations. I’m glad we checked out Athens…

Row80: Texas Travel Inspiration

What is ROW80? ROW80 is short for A Round of Words in 80 Days. It was created by the author, Kait Nolan, who describes it as, “an online writing challenge that knows you have a life.” Basically, ROW80 is a way for writers to connect online and share progress on their writing goals. Click on the aforementioned link for more information. ROW80 Check-In With the latest ROW80 round coming to a close, it’s time to reassess my writing goals for the round starting on July 2nd. I must confess, this round really got away from me. The good news is…

Review: Jersey Boys, a Tony Award Winning Musical in Dallas, Texas

The Tony Award-winning musical, Jersey Boys, is now playing in Dallas as part of the AT&T Performing Arts Center’s Lexus Broadway Series. Jersey Boys is a jukebox musical, meaning that the primary score is based on previously released music. Unlike some others, such as Green Day’s American Idiot, or ABBA’s Mamma Mia, which have fictitious story lines, Jersey Boys tells the true story of the pop group, The Four Seasons. So in addition to catchy music, Jersey Boys offers a fast-paced storyline with elements of a musical documentary. Here’s the plot in a nutshell: Long before reality TV, an ambitious…

Top Tips for Chatting on Twitter

Chatting on Twitter = Fun! Even though I’ve been on Twitter since 2008 – a fact I double-checked by going to TW Birthday – it wasn’t until the fall of 2011 that I began participating in Twitter chats. Up until then, I was really resistant to the idea of using Twitter for chat. I don’t even think I knew they were going on, actually, but I finally took the plunge and discovered that chatting on Twitter is really fun! If I hadn’t joined the weekly #commenthour Twitter chat, for instance, I wouldn’t have met the lovely @MDragonwillow, the inspiring @riverand…

Texas Graveyards: Smoke Rise Farm Pet Cemetery in Azle

Texas is full of historic graveyards and I love exploring them. I rarely visit modern cemeteries, unless there is someone famous buried there or a particularly unique headstone to check out. For the most part, newer graveyards lack the history, the beautiful old trees, and the finely crafted headstones and monuments of the older ones. Yesterday, however, I checked out a graveyard that has only been around since 1982. What made me curious about Smoke Rise Farm (11330 Mountain View Drive, Azle, Texas 76020) is that it’s a pet cemetery. I’d never seen an official animal graveyard before, so I…

Meet the Beetle & My Row80 Check In

Meet the Beetle A couple days ago, a large beetle wandered into the boat shop where I work here in Texas. One of the mechanics caught it and – knowing that I’m enamored with critters – brought it into the office. A little Googling later, we determined it to be a type of rhinocerous beetle called the Eastern Hercules Beetle, or Dynastes Tityus if you want to be more formal. The Hercules reference is due to the fact that rhino beetles are the strongest creatures on earth – relatively speaking. These little guys can lift up to 850 times their…