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  • My presentation in Bolingbrook, IL

    My presentation in Bolingbrook, IL

    This past weekend I experienced a first: the first time I presented a seminar and met someone who traveled to get there. Meaning: she said she came up the night before and stayed in a motel. Wow! I thought, I’m just like a real author. My talk was about flash writing and flash being the… Read more

  • I’ll be at Bolingbrook Library, Nov. 16

    If in the area stop by, 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 16 at Bolingbrook Library. I’ll have books for sale! I’ll be presenting: How Flash Can Spark Your Writing Writing flash (1,000 words or less) can be a springboard to creativity. Jane Hertenstein, author of Freeze Frame: How to Write Flash Memoir and Flash… Read more

  • Can the U.S. and Iran be friends?

    Can the U.S. and Iran be friends?

    A few months ago I wrote about the 40-year anniversary of the Iranian Revolution where the US Embassy in Tehran was overrun and hostages were taken. This was a bad point in Iran-America relations, and they have not improved much since then. On both sides there is great distrust. In my novel, Cloud of Witnesses,… Read more

  • Your Summer Reading List

    Your Summer Reading List

    Does reading make us smarter? Brain science proves that it helps us in cognitive reasoning. For example the sequential elements of a story helps us to plot our thoughts. But what about becoming a better person? Studies are drawing correlations between reading and empathy. From a recent BBC article: Dutch researchers arranged for students to… Read more

  • Art Exhibit by my friend from Iran

    Art Exhibit by my friend from Iran

      I first met Azarakhsh Farahani when he came to Chicago to promote Malaria at the 2016 Chicago International Film Festival. He contacted me on the online hospitality website Couchsurfing saying he needed a place to stay for about 15 days. That was a lot longer than I normally host–but, hey, why not! I learned as… Read more

  • Sorrow Estate=Welcome Laura

    About a year ago, as serendipitously can happen, I met Laura Johnson of Sorrow Estate at Calvin College during the Festival of Faith & Writing. But it was even more coincidental than that. About 4 years ago I couchsurfed with a great (grand) couple in Grand Rapids and when I contacted them last year they… Read more

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