Cynthia Gregory 10 minute Writing Exercise – no punctuation              PROMPT: Party Line METAPHOR

So much input all the time It’s the Party Line phone lines I remember the TV commercials when I was a little little kid you could call…

Cynthia Gregory 15 minute Writing Exercise       PROMPT: After the end

After the end credits roll, what happens to the movie. Sometimes the audience claps, sometimes they sit in silence, they always get up and leave, leaving behind their trash –…

I found the blog prompt, “Without you, nothing fits anymore.” and thought I would give it a crack.

Immediately I was dumbstruck with writer’s block – not because I can’t think of what to write but – because I have…

AWAKE IN BED is a chapter in my book, DEEPLY SLEEPLESS: 75 Collected Poems About Life, Death, & Everything

If you haven't purchased it yet, you can find it at Balboa Press and Amazon.

THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER

The thing…

When I was a small child, I didn't like to read. I liked to watch something, interpret it, and then direct or perform it back. I guess, as a kid, I was a doer, not a reader.

There were various…

Rain.

Living in California for nearly my whole life means a lot of things to me, and one of the stand-out things is… draught.

Where I live, we have been in water rationing for as long as I can remember…

Wow! Look at that baby Goth! Photoshoot was at my friend Stephan's house captured a bit of the lifestyle adventure that I have always promoted. Plus who doesn't love an accordion?!  Halloween Mid 2000s

Lifestyle Adventure KEYWORDS:

• FUN
• LIFE-AFFIRMING
• FREE…

LOVE, JOY CREATES. You get it, right?! It's poetic, and I even feel like it's a Shakespearean turn of a phrase, but it comes down to: JOY creates LOVE. 

JOY. It's what attracts and keeps love in your day, in…

"What joy have we in these moments brief,

bring breath to my aspiration."

Not sure if this is just self indulgent or appropriately promotional but my book is out in the world and there is so much that I have…

Can it really be that you and I first met 23 years ago today? I remember being in the Saratoga Annex at CSUMB, listening to the Student Voice representative talk, when something drew my attention to the window. 

As I…

19 years ago, in a brief instant, I met the man I was destined to marry. Tall, blond, handsome, shy - he reached forward to shake my hand while his father introduced us. I don't remember his father's words, only…

A man just walked up to and said, "When you smile your whole body smiles!" 

Why, yes Mister. It does! Thanks for noticing!

This photo is from the Carnival of Darkness Film Festival in Hollywood many years ago and is…

Pain sliced through me - - numb fingers & toes, electrical nerve slices ripping at my legs. Somehow the base of my neck was shockingly able to shoot cannon bullets into my brain, shards of glass-like torment lacing my eyes,…

A couple of months ago, I got a letter from Reid Tracy, CEO of Hay House, parent company to my publisher Balboa Press. It was a lovely surprise and I often think about the congratulatory message he wrote to me. 

…

SHORT STORY: The title of my new book is, DEEPLY SLEEPLESS: 75 Collected Poems About Love, Death, & Everything

LONGER STORY: The title of the book feels like the most important Marketing detail. And, really, it is! That's why I…

I've been putting together the manuscript for my book which entailed choosing the pieces. From there, I sorted them by content. Interestingly, they fell into some pretty direct categories, not just Love and Death like I thought they would. In…

I think we tend to be single minded creatures. 

Specifically, I'm thinking about the process of publishing my upcoming book of poetry. One thinks that what is needed is to write the material, arrange it, and submit it, but in…

It's 2020 and in July... my father died. Consumed with grief, I decided to surrender to the Universe. Slowly- gently- people started to offer me their happy memories of my dad. Most said they loved his smile and his laugh.…