Charlene Lamy Edge Speaks about Writing

Charlene Edge grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in a Roman Catholic family during the 1950s and 1960s. At college in 1970, fellow students recruited her into The Way International, a Bible-based cult. She became a leader and biblical researcher in The Way, but after she discovered what The Way really was, she escaped its headquarters in 1987. Charlene's books Charlene Edge is the author of two books. Her award-winning memoir titled,  Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International  (2017) and ... From the Porch to the Page: A Guidebook for the Writing Life  (2022). It includes:  More than thirty essays on the writing life and craft Charlene’s short stories and poems illustrating essay topics Nourishing insights from well-known authors and poets Recommended books for writing memoir, poetry, fiction, and travel stories She launched  From the Porch to the Page  at the Winter Park ...

Hi, readers and writers, Today I'm checking in to pass along one of my favorite quotes about the creative process. It's from Maria Popova at  10 Learnings from 10 Years of Brain Pickings – The Marginalian : "Build pockets of stillness into your life.  Meditate. Go for walks. Ride your bike going nowhere in particular. There is a creative purpose to  daydreaming , even to  boredom . The best ideas come to us when we stop actively trying to coax the muse into manifesting and let the fragments of experience float around our unconscious mind in order to click into new combinations. Without this essential stage of  unconscious processing , the entire  flow of the creative process  is broken.  "Most important,  sleep . Besides being  the greatest creative aphrodisiac , sleep also  affects our every waking moment ,  dictates our social rhythm , and even  mediates our negative moods . Be as religious and disciplined about yo...

What's poetry good for? Here's this from Christian Winman , editor of Poetry magazine from 2003-2013:   Let us remember ... that in the end we go to poetry for one reason, so that we might more fully inhabit our lives and the world in which we live them, and that if we more fully inhabit these things, we might be less apt to destroy both. Thanks for reading! Charlene

Greetings, readers. In my writing room, there are treasures on the wall above my desk: writing advice, inspirational quotes, loving messages from family and friends. All this helps to keep me going in my writing life. It feels like a good idea to start a little series here on the blog to share them with you! Let's get started ... #1 From the author of Charlotte's Web and other great books  "A writer has the duty to be good, not lousy; true not false; lively, not dull; accurate, not full of error. He [she] should tend to lift people up, not lower them down. Writers do not merely reflect and interpret life; they inform and shape life." E.B. White, The Paris Review Interviews, IV

Greetings, readers. Welcome to my new blog, "Charlene Lamy Edge Speaks about Writing." This is the first official post. Today, I want to be sure you know I published a guidebook for the writing life. It came out in 2022, five years after I published my first book,  Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International . From the Porch to the Page: A Guidebook for the Writing Life   is not only about the writing life and craft, it also offers some of my original work, such as 25 of my poems.  I've nicknamed this book PORCH. It's available at major online booksellers in paperback and eBook. It can be ordered by Indie bookstores and public libraries, too, just like Undertow can. What is PORCH all about? Beginning with “Readers Become Writers” and ending with “If You Want to Keep Writing,” Edge’s encouraging and gentle book highlights the vistas, detours, and delights on the writing path, along with truths we can all apply to poetry, prose...

Hi readers! It's Feb. 26, 2026. This is just a note to say my writing about writing and reading is coming here soon.  Cheers! Charlene Edge Bio Charlene grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in a Roman Catholic family. In college, students recruited her into The Way International, a Bible-based cult; she gave it the next seventeen years of her life. After escaping The Way International™ headquarters in New Knoxville, Ohio, in 1987, she earned a BA in English Literature from Rollins College in Florida, graduating  summa cum laude,  and worked for more than a decade as a writer in the software industry. She is a published short-short story writer, an award-winning poet, and a member of the  Florida Writers Association , The  Authors Guild , and the  International Cultic Studies Association . Edge also serves on the  FWA Speakers Bureau . Charlene lives in Florida with her husband, Dr. Hoyt L. Edge, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Rollins Coll...