Complete blank-minded lethargy is my goal for today.  (I have a cold and I'm trying to at least wring some wisdom out of the experience of staying home for a day.) So far, I haven't managed blank mind.  Done pretty well on lethargy.  Also making a fine showing on pessimism, theatrical suffering, and littering the […] Read More

Today I'm letting Mark Pinsky at Huffington Post post for me:  Cobalt Blue: Kundalini for Dummies? I was very happy to read this. Read More

As a serious magazine junkie, I turn through or pore over three or four dozen a week.  I get them at the magazine swap corner at my nearest public library (Eva Perry in Apex), the swap shop shed at the county recycling center (the dump), the PTA Thrift Shop in Chapel Hill (currently 2 for […] Read More

You might think that this is a small thing: a personal and professional no-brainer.  To me, it's a big deal, which is how it is with so many anxieties.  One person's no-problem is another's ponder-it-obsessively.  I have no problem with something like risking rejection or hamming it up (see photo below), but I worry about […] Read More

My psychologist husband Bob Dick will host another all-day seminar at our house on using hypnosis for better relationships.  Date: Friday, Feb. 22, 9 am to 5 pm.  Location: rural Chatham County, outside Chapel Hill, close to Jordan Lake. "Individuals and couples will use hypnosis and learn self-hypnosis while exploring a practical approach to…strategies and tactics […] Read More

After I surprised my husband Bob this morning with this birthday present, he said he thought it was a sufficiently bold choice to merit a blog entry. (He does like it, BTW.) Read More

Bernard Malamud's writer/psychotherapist daughter has written a very insightful piece on what stops people from writing or, for that matter, from other imaginative, self-expressive projects.  I hesitate to use the word "creative" after reading what she has to say about it. Janna Malamud Smith draws from her new book, An Absorbing Errand: How Artists and Craftsmen Make […] Read More

That's the question at the heart of my novel Revelation.  The blue-sky church-steeple cover wasn't getting across the grit, darkness, struggle, risk involved. So I've put a new one on the Kindle edition.  (The old hard copies have long been out of print.)  See what you think.  I think it better represents the story.      Read More

My upcoming novel gets some early and sizzling attention on home turf:  From Wilmington, NC's Starnewsonline.com: Bookmarks “Cobalt Blue” Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at 5:58 by Ben Steelman   Joining the host of area authors with books coming out this spring is Wilmington native Peggy Payne. Her new novel “Cobalt Blue” is due to be […] Read More

 An 88 year-old veteran, mill supervisor, father and farmer was buried in a small town churchyard in North Carolina today.  His daughter is a close friend of mine and so I stood at that service for the 21-gun salute that blasted as the church's flag flew at half-mast to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., and as Barack Obama was inaugurated for […] Read More