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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
My dream team
Allie The alarm rings. 4:45 a.m. I wake up way too early for another morning and more writing. I stagger downstairs and head to the coffee maker. Once in the kitchen, Allie, my motivation coordinator, hands me today's coffee already poured into my favorite pre-warmed mug. She tells me what I want to know: today's... Continue Reading →
Finding your best voice
Finding a book No, I have not chucked writing for singing. You may not think much of my writing but take a moment right now to count your blessings that you have never heard me sing. Nonetheless, I have found a book which has confirmed that I do have a writing voice. It has come... Continue Reading →
Is this fiction?
Is this fiction? "Is this fiction?" But he wasn't asking me. The young man checking me out at Von's on the campus of Purdue University had asked his colleague if my purchase, Don Quixote, was fiction. With the category clarified, he returned to face me with an apology along the lines that he... Continue Reading →
10 thoughts to think over
"Don't translate, answer." Those were the instruction from my Russian professor in college. He wanted his students to answer his questions posed in Russian as responses, not having taken the extra step to translate from Russian to English to Russian to answer. I have something similar in mind with the thoughts I'm listing below. They... Continue Reading →
I haven’t got time for this
Have you got a second? A few days ago, I was texting my brother. My daughter was watching me and commented, only partially joking, that she was "horrified" at how slowly I texted. Yesterday, I finished writing my novella, Ironjaws. Please don't tell my daughter this, but I started it 34 years ago. It... Continue Reading →
From fear to eternity
"What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves?" ... Continue Reading →