Today's quote de jour is part of the photo collage. It's tongue in cheek as only Oscar Wilde could be. It got me thinking about writers and their secrets. All writers have them, just as all writers have secret lives. I wish I could tell you half the things that happen to me every day. But, I don't want to be sued or worse, be killed.

So, on most days I post a benign, inspirational quote or photo. But I will tell you this; my crazy life is truly stranger than fiction. I promise to reveal more as time goes by. Even yesterday's blog with a serene photo collage of snow hid an ugly underbelly. As I walked about the garden, I came across a freshly killed squirrel with a red gash across his white neck. Domino,my feral cat fled the scene. My cat Merlin, sniffed at the corpse, while I snapped photos like some crime scene detective. I felt nauseous looking at this squirrel on its back. Squirrels are rarely seen in this cat-or-dog-waiting-or-a-belly-rub positon. Oddly enough, one of first things I thought of was Sarah Palin, and  couldn't fathom how she could kill a majestic, wild animal like a moose. This tiny squirrel was placed to rest in a place of honor to allow nature to take it's course. I may or may not post a photo of the squirrel.

I  won't tell you about the rest of the day spent re-designing the blog and ensuing Kafkaesque drama. Not to mention the formatting issues of late. You'll see it unfold (the design not the drama) over the next few days.

Eventually, secrets do seep out.: a sentence in novel, a character, a plot line. The beauty of fiction, is the reader will never know whether it may contain a germ of truth. In my fiction writing, there is anywhere from zero to 100% elements of truth, and everywhere in between.

Non-fiction is another story. As I sink deeper into the writing my current non-fiction book, I wrestle with telling the truth and all of its implications. It's as scary as a horror movie and yet liberating to dance on the razor's edge.