• #5onaFriday

    It’s Friday! Planning day at the day job and grocery day at home. Listening: While writing this week, it’s been the soundtrack to the Cider House Rules. Rachel Portman wrote a great soundtrack.  And tonight, SiriusXM brings the first live Dave Matthews Band concert in 510 days! That will be on repeat for me all…

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  • When she tried to think of it, she saw a blur, a company of laughing faces, the faces among balloons in a Mardi Gras film, the crowd of bright-skinned, bright-eyed faces like glazed fruits, reaching for a bottle of Coca-Cola on a roadside hoarding. Natalie Gordimer Since I am (was) attempting to write 52 bad…

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  • “Once I started sitting at my desk all day writing, my energy level gradually declined, and I started putting on the pounds. I was smoking too much, too, as I concentrated on my work. Back then I was smoking sixty cigarettes a day. All my fingers were yellow, and my whole body reeked of smoke.…

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  • A few months ago, I posted about my experience with David Allen’s Getting Things Done, the bible of productivity nerds everywhere. It was one of my most-read posts, but it was just a summary of Capture, Clarify, Control, so I thought I would go more deeply into each of these over the next few weeks.…

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  • Monday Musings

    My youngest son moved out to his own place with two of his closest friends. Part of me will miss his daily stories, but the other part was – hey, there a spare room to put some of this furniture in! On Saturday, we basically rearranged the furniture in every room of the house. It…

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  • Since I am (was) attempting to write 52 bad stories, I also thought it would be good to read 52 good stories. I am reading through The Art of the Short Story by Dana Gioia and R. S. Gwynn. If you are looking for an anthology of classic short stories that will make you swoon…

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  • “You must write every single day of your life… You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads… may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.” ―…

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  • Tuesday Tool Time

    Happy Tuesday! Growing up, my favorite time of year was summer. No school, no forced social interactions, long days at the pool to read and swim – I loved it all. Several years ago, I discovered that I had paid time off that I would lose if not used, but I did not want to…

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  • I have been thinking lately of curiosity. I don’t think I come across as curious to people I meet in real life, and yet, I think my Google Search history shows I am interested in so many things, from the aircraft of World War II to the things needed to blow up a petrochemical plant…

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  • Since I am (was) attempting to write 52 bad stories, I also thought it would be good to read 52 good stories. I am reading through The Art of the Short Story by Dana Gioia and R. S. Gwynn. If you are looking for an anthology of classic short stories that will make you swoon…

    Read more →