Tracey S. Phillips, Author at Blackbird Writers

Tracey S. Phillips asks What Bird Are You?

Post author:Tracey S. Phillips
Post published:July 26, 2021
Post comments:2 Comments

In addition to being the founder and leader of our group, Tracey S. Phillips is the author of Best Kept Secrets, and writes romantic suspense under the pseudonym Karissa Knight. You can find out more about her here, see her books here and read her last post here. Birds are Messengers I recall a summer day, not too long ago, when I was standing on my deck breathing the fresh Wisconsin summer air and watching the breeze flutter leaves in the canopy of maple trees overhead. And in the midst of this peaceful reverie, the distinctive chirt-chirtle of hummingbirds caught…

Tracey S. Phillips asks: How is Setting a Character in Fiction

Post author:Tracey S. Phillips
Post published:March 22, 2021
Post comments:18 Comments

Tracey S. Phillips is not only the author of Best Kept Secrets, she is our esteemed founder and leader. You can find out more about her here, see her book here, and read her last post here. It’s almost springtime in the state that I call home, but I’m not overly anxious for it. My favorite room in our house was an add-on designed by my husband and is directly above our two-car garage. The four season sunroom faces south. Expansive six-foot windows open three sides to the outdoors where our home nestles in old maple and oak trees. Heated…

Maggie Smith on Writer’s Block

Post author:Tracey S. Phillips
Post published:March 15, 2021
Post comments:13 Comments

Maggie Smith hosts the Hear Us Roar podcast for WFWA (70+ episodes available on major streaming services). Her debut novel, Truth & Other Lies, was a finalist in the WFWA 2019 Rising Star competition. You can find out more about her here. The email arrived at ten o’clock last night. It was from my best writing buddy with the subject line HELP! A week had gone by and she hadn’t produced any new work. Not a single chapter, not a single paragraph, not a single sentence. But she was a pro—she knew what to do. So she walked her dog. She…

Musical Moment

Post author:Tracey S. Phillips
Post published:November 1, 2020
Post comments:4 Comments

by Tracey S. Phillips Instruments play a chord. You know this music, the feeling it evokes draws on your emotions. The rhythm moves you and you don’t think about it, your feet just tap the beat. You sway with the chord changes and let the notes fill you. After a few bars, a single instrument sings above the rest. It’s telling the story, a familiar story, but you stop everything and listen because you need to hear it again. You hum along with the quavering high note of a bowed violin, or the low and sultry oboe. Perhaps an acoustic…

Who Are Your Heroines?

Post author:Tracey S. Phillips
Post published:August 2, 2020
Post comments:5 Comments

By Tracey S. Phillips Real and Historical Women In the quiet days of quarantine, I had many opportunities to meditate on my life choices and personal behavior. I used the time for reflection on changes I wanted to see in myself and the world around me. So I considered the woman I’d like to become. Am I kind? Thoughtful? Am I a good friend? My rumination brought to mind the women I admire most. Closest to my heart, my grandmother, Lucina Moxley was my teacher and mentor in music and in life. A patron of the arts and music, she…