Writing & Critiquing Since 1979
News & Updates: Bearlodge Writers Blog
Maureen Blake Bio
At present I live alone, with personal life in transition. Some of the ways I squeeze joy out of every day are to dance: line dancing, duo dancing when I can snag a partner, and dancing around the house by myself to very loud music. Painting is another new love, though I suffer from shyness in letting myself cut loose. In many ways I am being surprised by my intense positive response to vivid colors and am surrounding myself with them, more and more. My continuing source of joy and comfort comes from journaling, often many times a day and in multiple journals with different themes and purposes.
Publication Credits
Essays in anthologies:
The Ultimate Gardener, Heath Communications, 2009
In the Shadow of the Bear Lodge: Writings from the Black Hills, Patricia Frolander, editor; Many Kites Press, 2006
If The World is Going to the Dogs . . . REJOICE!: Success Stories of Adopted Companions and Their People; Jody Wright, editor; WSG Gallery Publications, 2006
If the World is Going to the Dogs . . . (audio version); one of 11 selected, 2006
Crazy Woman Creek: Women Rewrite the American West, Houghton Mifflin, 2004
My Heart’s First Steps: Writings that Celebrate the Gifts of Parenthood, Jennifer Graf Groneberg, editor; Adams Media, 2004
Woven on the Wind: Women Write About Friendship in the Sagebrush West, Houghton Mifflin, 2001
Essays, articles, and poems in:
The Christian Science Monitor, Home Forum page
Christian Science Sentinel
Serendipity 2006
Contests:
Laura Bower Van Nuys Mountain Culture Contest, First Place, Professional Category, 2008
ByLine, memoir.
Excerpt of Writing
After the Rain
I step sideways on the path,
avoid crushing earthworms,
bend to lift one fellow traveler
to safety, then another.
Am I savior or bane?
If I could, would I hear
tiny thunder of applause
or be shamed by sibilant swears?
Did I relocate the lost and lonely,
set adrift by tides of rain,
or thwart persistent pilgrims
almost home?
I stop interfering,
watch a raven breakfast on
one traveler I’d have moved
if only I’d known I should.
Get to know Maureen
Visit with Maureen at her new blog: AquaMaureen. She loves receiving comments.
Currently reading:
love walked in by Marissa de Los Santos
Recommended Read:
Escaping into the Open: The Art of Writing True, by Elizabeth Berg
One of the best things I’ve done for myself:
Took myself on a Caribbean cruise.
Favorite Quote:
“Whether we are poets or parents or teachers or artists or gardeners, we must start where we are and use what we have. In the process of creation and relationship, what seems mundane and trivial may show itself to be holy, precious, part of a pattern.”
Luci Shaw
Email Maureen