If these ten authors were my customers at my coffee house I can imagine having coffee without writing. I cannot imagine writing without coffee in me or at least nearby. In the evenings, I often sit with a mug nearby with no intention of drinking it. It helps me write just to have it nearby.... Continue Reading →
Chicken fried pancakes
I'm at the supermarket standing still and slack jawed in aisle 8. I'm staring at the shopping list that I have on a small clipboard clutched in my right hand. I started comprising this very list on Thursday night in preparation for the ritual Saturday morning shopping trip. Thursday evening while in front of the TV,... Continue Reading →
Coffee and writing
Some writing with your coffee? It is not yet seven a.m. on Sunday morning. And I have been up for close to ninety minutes. This is my schedule. I have come to the conclusion that sleeping in is overrated. This is my day off and one hears a lot about how others relish the chance... Continue Reading →
A quote on a quilt
A few days ago I visited the Kurt Vonnegut Museum in my hometown of Indianapolis. I am not from here, Kurt Vonnegut was. I had never been there as close as I now live to it. And it required out of town visitors interested in seeing the museum to get me there. A few weeks... Continue Reading →
writing without a hook
Writing a book without a hook I have always viewed my writing as a vital part of my self-care practice. The three most important, ongoing parts are my yoga and exercise practice, my mediation practice and my writing practice. I have found that the three working together can create a calm, intentional person... Continue Reading →
10 words I liked
More than ten words on Dan Yack I found these words in a book entitled Dan Yack, by Blaise Cendrars. The novel was published in 1927 and has been around the house for years. It is 144 pages and I picked it up for it's length. I wanted a quick read over the weekend. It... Continue Reading →
Practice
"We're talking about practice." - Allen Iverson Allen Iverson's quote about is best listened to. His tone is disdainful and dismissive of practice. After all, people didn't pay to see Allen Iverson practice. I just estimated that over the last nine years when I began to practice yoga in earnest that I have completed... Continue Reading →
Active cruelty
I smiled, comparing myself with other men, comparing my active goodwill with the lazy cruelty of their neglect... The excerpt above comes from "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." I read the book several years ago. For the record, I liked it as more detective, who done it book, as opposed to... Continue Reading →
Ten more leave ins for the mind
Ten More Leave-ins for the mind Write your novels, prose and poetry like you don't them back. Leave your writing in the present, and your books in the future. It's the feeling put into the words that count, not the word count. When writing try not to chase, nor attempt to... Continue Reading →
Doing the work to get the work done
I try to start to work I just wanted to get up on this Saturday morning and do some writing. The specific writing was my pre-Starbucks coffee house comedic novel, Altonstreet and Philpatrick. I had spent all Memorial Day refining my YA basketball fishing novella, Ironjaws. This was mainly grunt work. But damn if... Continue Reading →