Why Blue Sage?

Sagebrush Def.: Scrubby aromatic North American plant of daisy family.

For more years than I care to count, I commuted out to the Idaho desert as a technical editor. In the daylight evenings on the bus ride, while I was daydreaming about my creative story ideas, I watched a lot of sagebrush roll by on either side of the company bus, some too tall and deep for comfort, some not so big and forbidding, a friendly, homely sight. I smelled a lot of it after rainstorms, welcomed the sight of it after the spring thaw, went for lunchtime walks in it (mindful to watch for rattlesnakes). I never, however, sprinkled any desert sage on my lunch. That variety I buy at the store in the spice section.

When we first came together as a new group, it seemed like an obvious choice to name us after the plant that's so abundant here. It's also tenacious, like you have to be in writing, and an everyday part of our lives, which writing is to all of us. I'm not sure I'd ever call the sage around here blue, but that's creativity for you. There's plenty of blue sky around here, so think of "Blue Sage" as an optimistic bunch.

In all these ways, sage became a kind of mantra we bring to the library table where each month we meet to read, listen and critique. We also bring a lot of accumulated experience under our Blue Sage Writers banner, a lot of years of accumulated submissions, many successful. We're always wanting to share and deepen what we know about novels, short stories, essays, newspaper columns, memoirs and the like. But we've got newer writers in our group too, beginners to the dream of writing and being published. We're supportive of all writers and types of writing.

So if you've found this Blue Sage Writers blog, we assume you're interested in the thrill of the written word too. Please watch our blog for future posts with writing tips and how-to articles on the business of writing. We'd love to have you comment, share your observations or join us. Like the desert in which I've worked, it's good to have a buddy or two when you venture out in the deep stuff.

--Karen Finnigan
Karen is the recipient of the Idaho Writers League Writer of the Year Award. She is the author of seven novels and several novellas (published by Berkley and Harper under the pen name Karen Lockwood), as well as numerous articles and poems in various publications. Watch for her essay on winter in December's issue of Idaho Magazine. She lives in Idaho Falls.