I’m loving it out here! Phoenix, Arizona is the perfect place to live, to write about, and to take photographs!
Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve is a 20 to 30 minutes drive from our home. Each of the eight trailheads offer different views of the desert and mountains. This preserve covers 30,580 acres. Many of our current photos have been created at this preserve. The desert plants will be especially beautiful come this spring when they’re in bloom. Some of the saguaro cacti are probably 200- 250 years old. They are magnificient! Look for our updated photos!
As a writer, I’m especially enjoying the benefits of living in the ‘desert.’ The ideas are endless for my stories and poems. In the Poetry category, please note there are poems about the southwest national parks.
For my writing group’s current anthology–Book of Threes, our stories need to have a common theme around the number ‘three.’ (three characters, three conflicts, three themes, etc) My story is called ‘The Three Javelinas.’ It is a humourous re-imagining of the ‘Three Little Pigs’ with a western twist. Three ‘peccory’ outlaws, Heavy Javier, Conceited Consuela, and Mean Miguel are hiding out in the desert and the ‘coyote’ sheriff, Cody Coyote, who is the good guy, hunts them down. His deputy is called Deputy Diamondback. Also, the gossipy Gambel’s quails have a part in the story. All of the things I’m learning about and seeing in the desert that is now our home is in this story. It’s now in its second draft. My writing group has a wonderful, productive critiquing process that each story and/or poem goes through until it becomes a final draft. This anthology like the previous anthology, Mask, Facades, and Reveals, will be illustrated. I’m planning on submitting a cartoon illustration.
Fisher Photos and Prose 