Autumn is not far away. I can feel a slight change in temperature, leaves are beginning to fall and there is an ever-so-faint hint of color on the trees. I love fall. Last year was particularly special because it was the first season that I had Georgie the Spaniel. We spent many hours walking in…
Top Ten Things on Your Bucket List
Here’s a link to the latest post on my Goodreads blog… If you follow my website, Amy Elizabeth Burns, you may have seen a post called Message in a Bottle. The idea for Message in a Bottle came from a book of writing prompts which I’ve had for a long time. It was the first prompt and, if…
Goodreads Book Giveaway: Leaving is My Colour
Goodreads Book Giveaway Leaving is My Colour by Amy Burns Giveaway ends August 31, 2017. See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter Giveaway
Southern Humidity and Big Hair Problems
This Alabama humidity is about to get on my last nerve. It didn’t get near dark enough yesterday during that so-called eclipse to hide whatever freestyle, Brillo pad interpretation my hair decided to attempt. I know it’s frustrating listening to people fuss about the weather. I’m usually the first one to snatch a knot in…
It’s a Southern Thing, Great Place to Visit
7 Southern dishes that probably shouldn’t be food I’ve got a new list on It’s a Southern Thing which is a fantastic new website which celebrates all things Southern. The list, of course, is just for fun! Most of these things are on my list of favorites but, come on, you’ve got to admit –…
Crazy as a Soup Sandwich: One
Birmingham Man Released from Hospital After Drinking Unsweet Tea at Southside Restaurant A Birmingham man was released from St. Vincent’s Hospital this morning after a touch-and-go night in the Emergency Room. Rapid responders were called to the scene of a Southside restaurant Thursday evening where Lee Hightower and his wife, Geneva, had planned to enjoy…
Drive Like Your Kids Live Here
Before I get too far into this, let me state for the record: I do not have children, biological or otherwise. There were a few vague months spent in Mississippi back in the mid-90s which I can’t account for with complete accuracy. But I’m pretty sure that I didn’t give birth during that time. I…
Message in a Bottle
Sometimes when I don’t know what to write, I take out a book that someone bought me for Christmas which has emblazoned upon the cover: 500 Writing Prompts. The book has a prompt or two on each page and then some lines upon which you are supposed to write your response. I have never made…
Acquainted with the Night
Amy Burns, Acquainted with the Night by Robert Frost from Amy Burns on Vimeo.
Banana Handling Class
The three of us sat around the kitchen table doing our best to ignore each other when Eliot came hobbling in and said, “I’m going to be teaching a banana handling class today.” My sister, who usually doesn’t say anything until she’s finished her first cup of morning coffee, looked at her middle son and,…
Do You Want to Read an Honest and Occasionally Funny Novel About a Recovering Drug Addict?
A Review by Rebecca Monks Honest and occasionally hilarious novel about a recovering drug addict ‘I first realized I loved Jack the day he drowned,’ begins Amy Burns’ novel, setting the reader up for a wistful tale on the pitfalls of a modern, melancholic romance. Don’t buy into it. There’s nothing romantic about this darkly…
Whitman, Alabama
Has anyone ever asked you if you like poetry? I’m curious because whenever someone asks me that question, I think to myself – a better question is: can you appreciate poetry? Liking poetry is fine. But simply liking poetry will leave you skating along the surface. Learn to appreciate it and you will learn to…
Just Put My Hair Anywhere…
Something happened to my hair yesterday. It wasn’t good. And, it happened on one of those days that I had to, not only leave the house but, see another person who fully intended to see me back. To make matters worse, we’d never met before which meant that I had to seem as close to…
Small Press Picks, Beth Castrodale, and a Review of my Novel…
Thanks to Beth Castrodale at Small Press Picks for the following review of Leaving is My Colour. From Small Press Picks: “I never thought I’d be the kind of person who could say things like, ‘Yes, I’ve spent a little time in jail,’ or, ‘If you count second cousins then, yeah, I’ve had sex with…
The Thing About Falling in Love and Racehorses
The first time I fell in love, I was taking a second swing at kindergarten. The Board of Education had birthday-based rules and, because mine fell late in the calendar year, they decided that I wasn’t emotionally mature enough to move along to first grade. Guess I showed them. Donald was his name. He wore…
Daily Mail Review of Leaving is My Colour
Demented narrator Rachel’s a kind of dysfunctional debutante. The daughter of vast wealth, she’s got through four marriages, endless drugs, breakdowns, therapy and rehab, all in search of the one thing money can’t buy. This is the love of her childhood sweetheart Jack, who’s with someone else and not interested. The book’s a crazy…
For Book’s Sake Podcast: Women in Horror and Amy Burns
Now, my writing doesn’t fall into the horror genre but those of you who know me will have a wonderful time cracking jokes about ME being a horror show after you find out that the folks at For Book’s Sake were kind enough to include me on their podcast #104 Women in Horror / Amy Burns….
Leaving is My Colour
My first novel was published 16 February. Here are a few of the reviews thus far. Demented narrator Rachel’s a kind of dysfunctional debutante. The daughter of vast wealth, she’s got through four marriages, endless drugs, breakdowns, therapy and rehab, all in search of the one thing money can’t buy. This is the love of…
Everything’s Gonna Be Fine
Just a few words and a video that I put together. I’ve been experimenting with such things. It’s fun playing. I hope to sit down one day and actually do a video with INTENT, if you know what I mean. Everything now is a learning process and I find myself playing with various tools and…
Mulberry Fork Review Issue 3 Volume 3
Just saying, if you haven’t seen Mulberry Fork Review’s mammoth Issue 3 (with 3 Volumes), here is your chance… Happy Reading – Amy Burns, Managing Editor
Mulberry Fork Review Issue 3 Volume 2
Just saying, if you haven’t seen Mulberry Fork Review’s mammoth Issue 3 (with 3 Volumes), here is your chance… Happy Reading – Amy Burns, Managing Editor
The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true. John Steinbeck
Mulberry Fork Review Issue 3 Volume 1
Just saying, if you haven’t seen Mulberry Fork Review’s mammoth Issue 3 (with 3 Volumes), here is your chance… Happy Reading – Amy Burns, Managing Editor
Gibberish From My Notebook: Three
I keep a notebook with me much of the time. The notebook is for writing down ideas or words or sentences or kernels or situations or conversations – anything that has sparked a moment of creativity or answered some question regarding an ongoing work. The notebook is both literal and metaphorical in that I do…
Glasgow: Wandering Around Kelvingrove Museum
This magnificent beast is the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Sure, the photograph is really just an app’ed snapshot from my iPhone but, hand-to-heart, it didn’t look much different in person. So imagine spring, 2013… My vantage point was a spot in Kelvingrove Park where I was also watching my springer spaniel get up to springer spaniel…
Book Review: The Exit, By Helen Fitzgerald
If psychological thrillers are your thing and you haven’t read work by Australian author Helen Fitzgerald then get your skates on. You can start with The Cry (Faber & Faber, 2013) which Fitzgerald perfectly tunes, throttling the narrative forward at a steady pace until the reader is racing along at a fevered pitch, white-knuckled and…
Chicken and Dumplings: Dinner or Crime?
I made chicken and dumplings for the first time today. Not sure how I feel about it. Was I cooking dinner or was I aiding and abetting a southern fried coronary thrombosis? (Greek Chorus: All of the above.)
Wandering Around Alabama: Hubert Richter Chapel
I visited the Hubert Richter Chapel in Cullman, Alabama a day or two ago. I’d like to share with you. Check out my post on Wandering Around and Found.
That’s My Kind of Girl…
I was at the doctor’s office today, waiting my turn after having graduated from outer perimeter to inner sanctuary but, still waiting nonetheless. One of the doctors was walking down the hall towards me, a nurse sort of skip-hop running along behind him to keep up. She handed him a chart over his right shoulder…
Be careful what you pretend to be…
Be careful what you pretend to be because you are what you pretend to be. Kurt Vonnegut
Galveston Do You Read Me? I Said, Big Popcorn!
I went to Galveston, Texas with my sister this weekend. We stayed at the Hotel Galvez which is a beautiful, historic building on the seawall. Built in 1911, the Hotel Galvez is a blend of Mission Revival and Spanish Revival that has hosted the likes of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, General…
Mulberry Fork Review: Issue 2
We survived to produce Mulberry Fork Review: Issue 2. I’m so proud. Clap. Clap. Special thanks to our editorial team and our long list of talented contributors. This is a mammoth issue. Hope you enjoy!
Gibberish From My Notebook: Two
I keep a notebook with me much of the time. The notebook is for writing down ideas or words or sentences or kernels or situations or conversations – anything that has sparked a moment of creativity or answered some question regarding an ongoing work. The notebook is both literal and metaphorical in that I do…
Remembrance of Things Past…
A flash fiction, probably, written by me and published by Ink, Sweat, and Tears: Remembrance of Things Past.
Hunger…
A short story by me published by Cleaver: Hunger.
Everything I’d Never Know…
Today, a flash fiction (I suppose one might call it) written by me. Published by Smashed Cat Magazine: Everything I’d Never Know.
Where is my nose, Flannery O’Connor
I feel that discussing story writing in terms of plot, character, and theme is like trying to describe the expression on a face by saying where the eyes, nose, and mouth are. Flannery O’Connor
Mulberry Fork Review: Issue 1
Today is March 24, 2014. Let’s raise a glass of whatever tasty beverage is handy and congratulate everybody who played a part in making the release of Mulberry Fork Review: Issue 1 a possibility. As the Managing Editor, bankroll, and closet cheerleader, I feel driven to champion my labor of love but I’ve had help…
Gibberish From My Notebook: One
I keep a notebook with me much of the time. The notebook is for writing down ideas or words or sentences or kernels or situations or conversations – anything that has sparked a moment of creativity or answered some question regarding an ongoing work. The notebook is both literal and metaphorical in that I do…
Trying to make feeling felt…
I think it ought to be said that a fiction writer can try anything. He has tried a great deal but presumably, not everything. The possibilities are endless because the stirring of the imagination never rests, and because we can never stop trying to make feeling felt. Eudora Welty