Write. Think. Learn.
My wonderful sister-in-law alerted me to a Q and A from November 3, 2006 Aspen Institute with David McCullough here. When I heard these words, I stopped what I was doing and transcribed his spoken...
View ArticleNotes of Condolences
“What should I say?” Don’t we all have a hollow stomach when it comes time to write a note or make a phone call to a friend who has experienced the death of a loved one? It is awkward and difficult...
View ArticleOne Paragraph, Eight Hours
Move over, David McCullough. Make room for another Pulitzer Prize winner, Barbara Tuchman, to stand next to you on the pedestal of my high esteem. Folks, I have found an Important New Author....
View ArticleBest Of
I picked up a book and learned enough HTML on Saturday to add a little module on the side called Best Of. I put links to my favorite posts there. When I’m new to a blog, I appreciate reading the...
View ArticleSix-Word Story
Have you heard of the six-word story? Ernest Hemingway’s is the most famous:For sale: baby shoes, never worn.The distillation process intrigues me.Because all that is not written captures the essence....
View ArticleWhat Fascinates You?
What I decided to do was to sit down and, very quickly, make a list of things that I most liked in other people’s fiction — these could be thematic, character driven, very general or very specific. I...
View ArticleZinsser on Friday
Zinsser on Friday is a sweet reward for waking up on Friday. What is Zinsser on Friday? A weekly posting about writing, the arts, and popular culture by William Zinsser, author of On Writing Well,...
View ArticleCelebrating a Simple Conversation
Because I see my doctor once a year, more or less, I was surprised that she remembered me. “You are a writer, aren’t you?” was her cheerful greeting. Of course, I was *writing* in my journal as she...
View ArticleMurder Your Darlings
I’m reading and thoroughly enjoying, in dribs and drabs, Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and...
View ArticleWhat’s on Your Nightstand, March 24
Although I love the concept of What’s on Your Nightstand, a monthly overview of one’s reading, I have only participated a few times. In a rare and wonderful synchronicity, I deep cleaned my nightstand...
View ArticleReviving A Comatose Pencil
Curt and I, young and pre-children, had moved and were getting to know our new pastor at our new church in our new city. We explained that we’d loved to involve ourselves, but were burned-out and...
View ArticleQuotes I Copied in 2016
From this year’s journal, for the patient and curious reader: GPS sets us in the center of the map and then makes the world circulate around us. In this miniature parody of the pre-Copernican universe…...
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