microphone on a stage with wooden stool
Tracey S. Phillips Asks, If all the World’s a Stage, Where Do You Perform?
With so many social media platforms to choose, from which stage do you give your soliloquy?
Colorful hardcover books flying on white background
Tracey S. Phillips Asks How Do You Face Failure?
Tracey S. Phillips is the author of thriller Best Kept Secrets, and the founder of Blackbird Writers. You can find out more about her here, see her book here, and read her last post here. I’m proud to tell you that I’m a failure. Because on the other side of failure, is success. I wasn’t always proud to say it because I didn’t set out to fail. As school children we learned how to read and write while teachers and parents said, “Reach for the stars.” What they never told us was there would be many failures along the way.…
Tracey S. Phillips asks What Bird Are You?
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
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…
Musical Moment
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?
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…