humorous fiction

The short story below is based on the actual Mattioli Brother’s Bakery that was established by my paternal grandfather and his brothers circa 1920. Although I never met my grandfather, I heard stories of him from my father. This story is

The picture above comes from the actual sketchbook that inspired me to write my novel, The Bird That Sang in Color. In fact, all of the drawings I’ve been featuring in this latest blog series come from this same sketchbook. This drawing

Although Vincent played a variety of instruments, his favorite was the guitar. When Donna sees this picture, she thinks of all the times he played the guitar for her and remembers him saying his favorite phrase, “I’ve been

“Creativity can be repetitive and boring until it’s transcendent.” I truly love this quote from a recent New York Times article on Peter Jackson’s Get Back documentary. I’ve experienced the repetitive and boring

In the third chapter of The Bird that Sang in Color, Donna challenges Vincent’s decision to accept a baking job, saying that he could do so much more. About a week later, she tastes homemade bread that he baked and marvels and “how

One of the pictures that Donna finds in her brother’s sketchbook is one of him in his protesting days. As someone who has participated in many anti-war protests, I am deeply moved by this drawing. War, I believe, is the single must

When Donna sees the picture of Vincent playing a penny whistle in his sketchbook, she is transported back to her childhood when her brother gave her one of these tin flutes. The exchange below is from the opening scene of The Bird that Sang in

This is the third picture Donna sees in Vincent’s book of sketches. She remembers a time after Vincent began working at the bakery in town when he bought a telescope and invited her over to look through it while he guided her star gazing.

This is the first picture in the sketchbook that Donna discovers in The Bird that Sang in Color. Music is already a part of the picture as it shows a bunch of albums beside Vincent, but it also reveals another type of music–the music of

Above is a drawing of a character from Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. In Chapter Three of my new novel, Donna finds her brother, Vincent, creating this drawing. The theme of art runs throughout this book. The story