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BACCA Writers

Our Gaze is Gold: Spend it Well

A cup of buttercups
Worthy of my gaze




I remind myself daily: focus and attention are powerful, priceless resources. We nourish with our attention; what we focus on flourishes. Because our gaze is gold, others might be hungry for it. Sometimes, the one who craves our attention deserves it. But, because attention is so valuable, some people plunder it, manipulate to draw the focus of others to themselves by any means necessary. The hidden costs of misspent focus can be enormous, resulting in the loss of tranquility, productivity, and yet another valuable resource: time.

Plundered

On Tuesday, April 7, 2026, the world’s attention was hijacked—drawn in one horrible direction. Like so many others, I watched, waited, and hit refresh on the news to see if the Madministration would dare to destroy an entire people, make good on its wild, reckless threat. With my energy plundered, the work I meant to do that day never materialized.

Time revealed that the threat had been an idle one, but the fear was real. How could we not look? Dr. Heather Cox Richardson identified the Madministration’s sick tactic as domestic terrorism, an attack, not just against the world, but also the United States—rhetorical violence employed to cause fear in the people, a nauseating stunt ultimately crafted to shelter a frail ego.

I forgave myself for looking. I also vowed to refocus my attention, to treat my gaze like the prized, precious resource that it is, and to fight against having another day, another minute, hijacked in this manner.

How to Save and Spend the Gold

Conditioning of focus requires both careful withholding and lavish spending. From the wolfish forces that slaver after attention and devour it (along with one’s peace), I avert my gaze. Because in such times as these I must stay informed, I track news, but only through the most trusted of filters.

The more happy work is where to look, where to spend my energy and focus. Loved ones. Beauty. Nature. My own creative work. A satisfying line of prose, a sketch, a corner brightened by spring flowers are all respites. They replenish. They offer fresh perspective, delight, even hope.

This Dance is Not Just For the Sugar Plum Fairies

And, hey…it isn’t just roses and sweet treats over here.

Careful, strategic looking at the terrible can also be necessary, medicinal, and right. As the predatory nature of powerful figures has been increasingly revealed, the last year and a half has felt like a relentless assault on childhood, girlhood and womanhood. A literal assault for some…too many. I can’t reverse the damage done by these forces, but I can look away from the predators and listen as those hurt by that damage find courage to speak. Honing my gaze, training it on what is most worthy of my attention, I can give my focus to what has been silenced, even if it is difficult to hear. I can encourage all who are vulnerable to find a voice, a vehicle, a medium for their beautiful, creative interior selves. And I can make sure that I also give myself time and space to speak, write, and make.

Noelle Beverly writes poetry and prose, supports local writers in the surrounding community, and is a member of the BACCA Literary group. Photo by the author.

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Book Review

2025 Favorites

I tend to go for the serious reads.  Long books full of tragedy, heartbreak, and death.  The exceptions this past year were IT which I read because I was curious about the HBO series getting lots of buzz, The Hail Mary Project, which was recommended to me by the same trusted reader who recommended Hamnet, and the whimsical Winslow Hoffner’s Incredible Encounters because I know the author Michael Thompson and have read his previous work.  Here’s the list of recommended books I read in 2025

Energy by Richard Rhodes, nonfiction. This book begins slow but picks up as it looks at the earliest discoveries of electricity, the earliest uses of petroleum, and the birth of the nuclear age. The author includes the personalities of those who try and fail and try again. Some succeed and achieve unimaginable wealth  Other fail and their names are forgotten, but their failures provide the important stepping stones for others to succeed.  Recommend for those interested in the history of energy production in Europe and North America. 

IT: A Novel by Stephen King, fiction.  Wild ride that I hesitate to recommend solely because of the less than politically correct descriptions. Other than that, I enjoyed meeting all the characters as young people and as adults.  Once IT finally shows up, I was ready for the book to end. It’s always that was with fictional monsters.  They never live up to the horror of the real ones.

The Mother Next Door by Andrea Dunlop and Mike Weber, nonfiction, is about real monsters. Child abuse by the one person no one is supposed to suspect – the mother.  The author teams up with Detective Weber to investigate the strange phenomenon of Munchausen by proxy, referred to by the police as MPB. I hesitate to recommend because could be a trigger for some people, but if you can overcome the unsettling topic, it’s a fascinating story.

One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus, fiction is a very enjoyable “what if” based on an idea supposedly thrown about in 1870s to send white women to marry Cheyenne men to “civilize” them. The result is an emotional look at the lives of a wide variant of women who’d been abused in white society finding purpose and love among the Cheyenne.  I have no idea how much research the author did into Cheyenne society or whether actual Cheyenne would find it offensive, but I enjoyed it.

The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick, Nonfiction.  I am a Nathanial Philbrick groupie. I’ve read several of his books, including In the Heart of the Sea and Mayflower.  The Last Stand didn’t disappoint.  For those who want more fact than fiction to the buildup and aftermath of the battle of Little Bighorn and Custer’s Last Stand, I recommend The Last Stand.  Hubris and greed are the real culprits, as with so many wars and genocides.  Heartbreaking and insightful.  Highly recommend for history buffs.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards, fiction about keeping secrets and the toil it takes.  A father gives up his Down syndrome daughter without telling the child’s mother.  The story is told from many different perspectives, which dampens the drama and mystery since we know more than the characters. Recommend with reservations due to the excessive melodrama.

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys, Fiction.  Much more interesting than I thought it would be. Set in Romania during the crumbling of the communist regime, the story follows a boy on the edge of manhood trying to navigate life in an authoritarian society. He doesn’t know who he can trust among family and friends. Frightening mystery in a fascinating time.

Eden Undone by Abbott Kahler, Nonfiction.  Truth is stranger than fiction in this tale of a bunch of nutty Germans deciding to leave post-World War One Berlin and create paradise in the Galapagos. Nothing works out as they hoped. I wouldn’t believe it if the author didn’t have photos and news articles to back it up.  Really crazy.

Tribe by Sebastian Junger, Nonfiction.  Junger is a good writer so I was willing to give this short book a try. It’s as much philosophy as history as Junger explores what creates a peaceful society and why today’s world is so very divided.  Not the most memorable read but worthwhile.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.  A trusted book-lover recommended Project Hail Mary and I admit I was skeptical.  I’d enjoyed the movie The Martian but hadn’t read the book.  I’m so glad I jumped into this fanciful story of good people trying to save the world.  Much needed boost during troubling times.  Highly recommend

Winslow Hoffner’s Incredible Encounters by Michael Thompson, Fiction is the little cousin of Project Hail Mary.  Like Andy Weir’s novel, this incredible encounter is filled with mostly good people trying to figure out a mystery.  Unlike Andy Weir’s novel, the mysteries here are in the deep ocean, not outer space. Family friendly recommendation.

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, Fiction.  I love Shakespeare.  I love Hamlet. I’ve seen Hamlet performed numerous times at Blackfriars American Shakespeare Playhouse in Staunton, Virginia.  Do you need to be familiar with Shakespeare or Hamlet to enjoy Hamnet?  Probably not, but it sure does help.  I recommend this emotional book and beautiful movie. 

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore, fiction.  Enjoyable mystery with multiple generations of characters.  Good read, not too heavy. 

The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson, nonfiction.  Above I mentioned that I am a Nathanial Philbrick groupie.  I’m also an Erik Larson groupie. I’ve read Devil in the White City, so I decided to give The Demon of Unrest a go.  Good decision. This book should be mandatory reading for every American.  Maybe for every human, but Americans seem especially prone to stumbling into war.  If you questioned the morality of slavery, The Demon of Unrest will assure you that slave owners weren’t merely immoral, they were also arrogantly stupid.  

Podcasts

Empire: World History, with William Dalrymple and Anita Anand.  Very interesting podcast by two historians looking at the rise and fall of empires through the lives of the men and women who made it happen.  Highly recommend.

Beekeeping Today Podcast, with Jeff Ott and Dr Becky Masterman.  My favorite podcast never overloads listeners.  Highly recommend for beekeepers and honeybee enthusiasts.

Categories
BACCA Writers

Welcome Imbolic Celebrations and Traditions for a New Start

Many of us make New Year plans to up our writing productivity, and many feel frustration by the end of January. Personally, I find it helpful to reassess my habits regularly. Keep what works. Tweak or ditch anything that doesn’t give you what you need to succeed.

What does this have to do with Imbolic—the Celtic holiday between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox? It’s the start of spring. Light begins to return for those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere. A great time to focus on creative objectives with renewed energy and
determine what you need moving forward, more or less contact with other writers? New critique partners? Perhaps a new place to write. Clear a different space in your home. A change of view can spark creativity. Need to get out of the house after a cold January? Try a local library or café
for a change of pace.

If you’ve taken time off from writing or if your New Year’s resolutions are wearing thin and need a restart, here are a few steps that may help get you back on track.
One of the best ways to engage with your writing is to pick out an older piece of your work, whether it’s a finished work that needs editing or a piece that has only been started. This avoids the blank page syndrome. Don’t try to work a long piece; that’s a sure path to frustration. Think
one chapter or short work at a time.
 
1.     Pick a piece you still have an interest in but haven’t touched in some time.
2.     Divide it into small increments. Depending on your needs, 500 to 2000-word chunks, but whatever works best for the piece you’re editing is fine. You need enough to engage your mind and not so much that you’re overwhelmed.
3.     Use your favorite editing technique. I read through the piece first and make any obvious changes I think it needs.
4.     I run that chunk of writing through a copy editor, so any missed spellings or simple grammar issues are resolved. It’s hard to do this yourself as your mind will often overlook errors on lines you’ve written and read previously. Many writers use Grammarly, ProWritingAid, or Microsoft 365’s advanced editor.
5.     Next have your computer read your work to you. So many programs will do this for you, including Word – Review. This is a game changer for anyone who has not tried it!

You might want to try a couple of different work schedules. Perhaps you used to write at night, and that doesn’t seem to be working for you now. Maybe midday will work. Even if you have another job, mornings on your days off could be the key. Just try something different. As important as it is to have a schedule and get yourself in that chair to write, if you’re struggling, a change could open new routes to productivity for you.

And as always finding time to read works that interest you always help get the creativity flowing.
 

Happy writing!


Pamela Evans is an award-winning educator, early childhood specialist, and director of educational programs. As a consultant for preschools and music programs, Pamela specializes in curricula for young families. A life-long learner, Pamela enjoys sharing and fostering a love for the natural world, the educational benefits of story-telling, and an appreciation of music and the arts with students, parents, teachers, and fellow authors.

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BACCA Writers

Parting Gifts: The End of Things

Three photos of a strip of paper from different perspectives, the last looks like a star.
A mess…
or
something else?

I can’t stop thinking about the finale of Stranger Things. As a fan of the show, I’ve made peace with it. As a lover of story and story-making, I’m still fascinated with the choices that were made, and puzzling over the reactions they elicited. (If you haven’t finished Stranger Things and plan to, maybe save this read for another time.)

I saw trouble coming. How could the anticipation for this finale not fly out of control? Season 4 was so good, so well-constructed, and the ending—a beautiful balance of tragedy and triumph, mystery and illumination. In the months that followed, wild and disparate theories about what might happen and cryptic cast interviews just fanned the flames of frenzy. Add to that some very clever distribution decisions—delivering episodes bit by bit throughout the holiday season—my expectations spiraled. I felt like some magic, secret Santa had come to give us special prizes just for surviving this miserable year. Poor Duffers, with hopes flying so high, there is no way they could have pleased us all.

In terms of resolution, some viewers expected nothing less than a bloodbath. Most of us wanted answers. Some wanted one more horrifying twist so badly they invented a secret 9th episode—Conformity Gate. I admit it—I tuned in just to be sure I wasn’t missing out. What a brilliant formal innovation that would have been, to use the streaming platform itself to hide one final surprise. I think all expect a future show to try that out sometime soon.

How about that Denouement?

While watching the actual climax of Stranger Things, I noticed with some trepidation that nearly 55 minutes of air time remained. Like so many others, I braced for a terrifying turn. But instead of more plot twists and an even bigger climax, the Duffers gave us an extra long denouement.

Here’s where they won me over. Denouement is such an underrated and necessary tool of storytelling. It’s so much more than happily ever after. Denouement is for sorting and mending. It’s for a bit of fanfare and a sigh of relief. It offers stillness and space for the big insights to bloom. It gives respite for the characters left standing, or sometimes justice, retribution—the righting of wrongs, restoring of balance. A big climax can rock your world, while denouement holds your hand, walks you to the door, and gives you a little more love before you leave the story and return to your life. And when it’s done very well, it feels like a gift. A chance to farewell a beloved story, its world, and the characters within. Denouement offers a little more time to say a proper goodbye.

The Duffers’ denouement included loss, little victories, celebrations, and grief. It gave us well-earned unions and bittersweet partings. It tied up some loose ends, and left some others dangling. The ending was about sacrifice and survival and continuing on in hope. And finally, the finale left us with a what-if or two. I loved the ambiguity and I’m glad all of that wasn’t undermined by one more turn. As for what wasn’t there, I noticed, but I also see what the Duffers gave us—an ending that honors their characters, and as a whole, a great journey that ended with some lovely parting gifts.

Noelle Beverly writes poetry and prose, supports local writers in the surrounding community, and is a member of the BACCA Literary group. Photos by the author.

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BACCA Writers Holiday Image only

Bacca writers are taking a break

See you in January

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BACCA Writers

Don’t let conflict block your creativity

Of the many roadblocks I face as a writer nothing kills my creativity quicker than conflict with beloved family members and friends. The very same sensitivity that gives me my writing voice also makes me keenly vulnerable to harsh words and deeds. Angry confrontations are as debilitating as physical trauma, a metaphorical car wreck that incapacitates me for days or even weeks.

Photo by Karola G on Pexels.com


Has this happened to you?


You’re humming along, ideas are flowing then BAM, an argument, a conflict, an unkind word. You feel disrespected and unheard. You’re angry and hurt. You run the conflict over and over in your head. You can’t sleep. Your introspection kicks in and overrides your sense of self. Were you at fault? Should you apologize? Humble yourself? You try to rationalize your point of view. You work to find potholes in theirs. You consider never speaking to them again. You consider demanding an apology. You consider a hundred different things that all prevent you from returning to your writing.
With family holidays looming there are many possible points of contention. But how do you stop obsessing over hurt feelings? How to do you stop replaying the conflict over and over in your head? How do you put that aside and return to your muse?


Putting the conflict aside.


I recently had a conflict that consumed me for weeks. It was in my head when I went to sleep at night and when I woke up. I replayed my part in the conflict over and over and replayed theirs over and over, trying to figure out who was right and who was wrong. I was angry and hurt and afraid. Not only to confront the other party but also to lose them in my life. It became an emotional tug of war that I couldn’t put aside. I spoke to a trusted ally about my struggle, and they suggested a couple of action plans:


ONE: Write down what happened and write down how it made me feel. Give it a chance to breathe and dissipate.


TWO: Write a letter to the other party with no intention of sending it. Tell them all of my anger and outrage and disappointment but keep the letter locked up on my computer.


What if writing isn’t enough? What if the only way to find resolution is to confront the other party? How can you address what happened and how it made you feel?

Consider using Situation-Behavior-Impact, or (SBI)™ to address how your feel.

The Center for Creative Leadership website describes SBI as

clarifying the Situation,

describing the Behavior,

and sharing the Impact.

Then, if you like, you can explore intentions vs. impact with the other party.

Here’s a simple example:


Me: “At our recent gathering I wanted to leave early.” (Situation)
Them: “I remember.”
Me: “You insisted I stay longer.”
Them: “Yes, I know.”
Me: “You raised your voice to me” (Behavior) “and that hurt my feelings” (Impact)
Them: “I didn’t realize I’d hurt your feelings, but I felt you were being… …..” (Explore intentions vs impact)

Learn more about using the Situation-Behavior-Impact approach at the Center for Creative Leadership Website: https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/closing-the-gap-between-intent-vs-impact-sbii/


And find your muse again!

Photo by Bo Ponomari on Pexels.com
Categories
BACCA Writers

A Simple Study on Point of View

A Simple Study on Point of View

As fiction writers, there are many writing exercises to help improve your craft and your story. One of the best is changing your story’s point of view, and here’s why…

You learn a lot from seeing your story, your setting, your characters, from various angles. You may find the story works better from a different POV, but even if that doesn’t happen, you’ll see something new. 

Don’t make this a large undertaking. A great exercise is to rewrite a chapter. At the very least, you’ll gain new perspectives on your characters. You may confirm your POV choice, and now you know why this is the best vantage point for your story.

Is your story told in first person? That is often exciting and fast-paced. It’s nice to be inside the protagonist’s head. But from there, you and your readers can’t be sure what any of the other characters are thinking. And there’s no way of knowing what’s going on elsewhere.

Omnipotent is not currently in fashion, but can be a great exercise and may add to your knowledge of the world your characters live in.

Third person is often used to give a broader perspective. If third person seems a bit too distant, you might try close third, allowing for access to characters’ thoughts and feelings.

Changing POV is a great way to add depth to your work.

For some fun simples POV ideas check out Eva Deverell’s page…

https://www.eadeverell.com/point-of-view-worksheet/

Pamela Evans is an author and award-winning educator, early childhood specialist, and director of educational programs

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BACCA Writers

Frida Kahlo – Art and Artist

photograph of Frida Kahlo in traditional Mexican garb with a flower hair adornment, seated on a white floral bench against a green background with white flowers.
Frida on White Bench, New York (detail), 1939, Nickolas Muray (American, born Hungary, 1892–1965), Carbon pigment print. Private Collection ©️ Nickolas Muray Photo Archives, Licensed by Nickolas Muray Photo Archives

If you have the time and resources, I recommend exploring the haunting exhibit, Frida: Beyond the Myth, currently on offer at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia. Open through September 28, 2025, this exhibit presents paintings, drawings and mixed-media art pieces by Frida Kahlo, as well as photographs of the artist taken by intimate friends and professional photographers, including Lola Alvarez Bravo, Imogen Cunningham, Julien Levy, Dora Maar, and Nickolas Muray. This thoughtfully constructed VMFA exhibit invited me to consider multiple questions about Kahlo’s work and life.

I’ve always found Frida Kahlo fascinating—inspiring in a difficult, even dark way. She found solace in her art, a respite from the excruciating, ever-present pain she endured after surviving a terrible, near-fatal bus accident. I’ve seen her work in person before, but this time her pain was outshined by her commitment to making art in spite of her pain, using whatever tools necessary to create from a reclined position on her bed post-surgery. Some might assume she was an artist because of her pain, but it’s clear that Frida Kahlo created through all the colors of her emotions—joy, rage, bliss, boredom, and pain. As much as pain is visible in her work, so are her passions, her preoccupations, and her love.

In Kahlo’s work, her own face is the most visible, repeated image, self exposure the most predominant theme. Not only did she incorporate her image into numerous works, but friends, family, lovers, and other artists were inspired to photograph her face as well. The many iterations of her own visage, the multiple versions of self that she propelled onto canvas or paper, or allowed to be captured in a photographer’s frame dominate this exhibit as well.

Kahlo-themed selfie station, Frida: Beyond the Myth Exhibit, VMFA

After seeing so many shades of expression, so many of her moods, it’s tempting to believe that I understand something about her. In the days after I explored this exhibit, however, I began to wonder if she really exposed her true self in these works of art. Had she surrendered herself to be the subject of art and disappeared into it? Or had she transformed herself into art outside of canvas and film? Early on, she adopted the practice of wearing traditional Tehuana clothing, braiding her hair, and adorning herself with Mesoamerican jewelry, essentially creating an intentional, stylized projection of herself that honored her Mexican heritage. Perhaps she was the art, and every photograph, every painting represented a brief, still-frame capture of the living art she had become.

Frida Kahlo’s first photographer was Guillermo Kahlo, her father. The opening pieces in the Frida: Beyond the Myth exhibit are his photographs, in which she poses, sometimes solo, sometimes with others, dressed as a boy. It seems that Frida Kahlo learned early on to redress the power dynamic between artist and muse, creator and subject, by first taking on a persona—becoming art and then allowing herself to be framed.

From Frida: Beyond the Myth

Experiencing these works by Kahlo and others in person gave me so much to consider about what it means to create and live a full life as an artist. The thoughts I’ve shared here barely scratch the surface. Co-curated by Dr. Agustin Arteaga and Sue Canterbury, Frida: Beyond the Myth is showing at the VMFA in Richmond through September 28, 2025.

Noelle Beverly writes poetry and prose, supports local writers in the surrounding community, and is a member of the BACCA Literary group.

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BACCA Writers

Rainy days should be great for writing.  Why am I so unproductive?

I received a message recently asking whether a nonfiction book I’m working on had found a publisher.  To be honest, I’ve finished the manuscript but have stalled in my efforts to secure a literary agents or publishers.  I’ve received some nibbles, some great feedback, and some flat-out rejections but that’s not what has stalled my efforts.  It’s this constant rain.

This summer in central Virginia has been insufferable. If this summer were a literary character it would be Malvolio from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.  The Riverside Shakespeare describes Malvolio as “the pompous Comptroller of the Royal Household.”  Like the constant rain, Malvolio destroys happiness everywhere he goes. 

“At a party where everyone is joyously drunk, Malvolio is the guest who insists on remaining cold sober, who reads long lectures on temperance to everyone else, and threatens to summon the police.“

How can I be creative with such a villain constantly getting me down?

It’s not just my writing that has suffered from the constant rain.  By this time last year I’d harvested over a hundred pounds of honey.  I didn’t even bother cleaning my honey extractor this year. 

My poor bees. They’ve been stuck inside their hives almost every day because of the rain – with disastrous results. Much of the nectar and pollen they rely on has been washed away by the constant rain. If this rain continues I’ll have to feed them sugar water to survive the winter. 

Compared to others in America and across the globe I’m lucky. The James River hasn’t flooded my apiary. My hives haven’t been swept away.  My family and friends, both human and animal, are safe.

But the constant rain is depressing.  I want to visit my apiary and listen to the humming of the bees.  I long for the focus and energy the sunshine brings. I need to return to my writing. 

I better log off my computer now. Sounds like another storm is heading this way.

Images created using Bing Image Creator

Categories
BACCA Writers publishing

Are You and Your Book Ready for an Agent or Publisher?

or

When my children were young there was a wonderful climbing tree in our front yard. You had to be a certain height to reach the bottom branch and pull yourself up into the arms of the tree. Very young children often asked if I could help them up onto that branch. Not wanting anyone to get hurt, my answer was, “When you can pull yourself up, you can climb the tree.”

How does this apply to writing and getting published? Let’s discuss the often-dreaded synopsis. You must know your story well to write a decent synopsis. Many editors offer synopsis writing services for authors and there certainly can be a time to use one of those services, but I would counter that if you’re not ready to write a halfway decent one yourself, you’re probably not quite ready to submit your manuscript.

I’ll be the first to admit that writing a novel or work of nonfiction is a different skill from crafting the synopsis, but they truly complement each other. For the synopsis you need to have identified the strongest components of your work. You’ll need both the surface level – who, what, where, when – and the deeper why, blended into a compelling and clear summary.

Being an author means you spend half your time writing and half your time selling your work. An author must be able to describe and sell their book to an agent, a publisher, and to readers, even if self-publishing. In fact, if you’re self-publishing you’re the sales team. Either way, you’ll need strong synopses of different lengths to sell your masterpiece! Think of the synopsis as a way to ensure you know your work on every level and can discuss it clearly without hesitation. Until you have that piece, you’ve only done half the job.

Once you’ve got the goods, a great manuscript and a solid synopsis, you’re ready to query or publish. We’ll save the art of the query for another time!

Pamela Evans is an author and award-winning educator, early childhood specialist, and director of educational programs