Linda K Sienkiewicz

Writing life, line by line

What, Why, How: Ellen Meeropol

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What: I imagine my novels balancing on a tightrope stretched between the issues that are important to me (racial and social justice, the climate emergency, feminism) and the characters who live inside the stories that grow from those themes, characters who try to figure out how to make a difference in the world. My manuscripts never start with theme or issue—they begin with characters in some … [Read more...]

Rising Sun Roll and new tricks

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Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? The implication is that old dogs (and old people) learn less well than the young, and that old folks are set in their ways. It's one of the oldest proverbial sayings in the language. The earliest example of it in print is in John Fitzherbert's The Boke of Husbandry, 1534: ...and he [a shepherd] muste teche his dogge to barke whan he … [Read more...]

The King of Outsider Art

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Howard Finster: Leave it to Pinterest to start me on an unexpected journey. I use the site to pair interesting images with inspirational quotes for my Facebook Author Page. The quirky portrait, above, caught my eye, with cloud-like faces making the top half of the mans' head, and lettering decorating the bottom half. I'd never seen anything quite like it. However the post had no indication … [Read more...]

The Sun Bird Crest Legend of Chengdu

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 The sun and immortal bird: People often ask me about the unusual symbol on my necklace that my husband bought for me when working in Chengdu, China. The symbol is the official city logo, inspired by the Golden Sun Bird, an ancient relic unearthed in 2001 from the Jinsha Site. The four birds in the symbol represent the four seasons, while the 12 inner rays stand for the 12 … [Read more...]

Bad intentions or just clumsy? Fido knows

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Oops Looks like your dog understands you more than you think. The results of a recent study explains why my pup Cowboy quits the game when I fake a throw one too many times. Researchers used a unwilling-unable paradigm to study 96 dogs of various breeds and ages and discovered that dogs may be able to actually understand humans' intentions. This paradigm measures whether an animal is … [Read more...]