Welcome to Pairings

What Did It Take to Become America’s First Female Cabinet Member? The only woman in the room, and the only individual to serve in FDR’s cabinet for his entire term, arrived for her job interview on February 22, 1933 with a very ambitious list.

On This Day 90 Years Ago, the Biggest, Baddest, Blackest Dust Storm of Them All Struck the Texas Panhandle — and set the stage for the opening of my historical novel, Unspoken (A Dust Novel) ... on Black Sunday: April 14, 1935.

How does art connect us? Because humans are hard-wired to make connections, art connects us to one another, and to the whole wide world.

There's a Magic to Celebrating Milestones...and It Begins With Champagne (and Books About It)

Kay Smith-Blum's debut, TANGLES, spans two timelines and two star-crossed narrators in the dark shadow of radiation contamination, during th

Today is National Voter Registration Day . Think about the benefits of being registered to vote…there are many! But here are my Top Five...

Life provides obstacles, but you can choose what you focus on

In 2006 I wrote this ode to my creative spirit, "Artist's Poem," and found renewed inspiration.

"The work never never matches the dream of perfection the artist has to start with" — William Faulkner

When you let go, you create space for something else to move in to your life, as Holiday Mathis told me in my horoscope.

To ignore a creative funk is to imperil your creative stamina. Here's out to take a time out to tend to your creative soul.

Satisfaction in Maine by Jann Alexander ©2017 I spent an entire week in one of the most divine places on earth, coastal Maine, but I...

Tuesday, November 8, 2016, is Election Day. In case it’s escaped your attention, there’s an important election on Tuesday, November 8. ...

Take the annual Weird Austin Homes Tour and see for yourself. Weird Homes Welcome | iPhoneography by Jann Alexander ©2016 Welcome. Let’s...

The Narrow View | iPhoneography by Jann Alexander © 2016 Behind the camera lens, you’ve got a choice. Your view can be narrow, focused...

If you believe, as I do, that life is lived in the details, your camera must always be ready to take in what you can’t. Melk Abbey...

When You Can’t Change The View Water Over The Dam by Jann Alexander ©2016 Change Your Perspective Another Perspective: Water Over The Dam...

Last week I read two books in two days. Yes, that required putting a halt to all activities beyond eating and feeding the dog. Even...

You’ve finished your epic novel and you’re querying agents. (You haven’t written an epic novel? No matter. Applying for a job? Same...

For every action, there is a reaction. Which makes choosing the right actions pretty important, even when the actions are pretty...