For years I had been in the habit of carrying a notebook, a catch-all where I collected bits and pieces of things that interested me — quotes, observations, facts — all notations that begged me to return to them. Then I read The Memoir Project, A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life, written by Marion Roach […]
Does Sorrow Prevent Joy
It is December 1st and against better judgment — I committed to publishing daily as part of NaBloPoMo — again. The theme this month is joy, a subject that actually does fascinate me, so if you are a regular here you can expect to hear a little more about it for the next 30 days. As it happens just […]
Goodbye November, Hello December
Just in time for us to wave goodbye to November and say hello to December, there is a breeze outside that seems determined to chase the warm temperatures away. In the distance clouds have formed, the sight of them leave me hoping that the weather channels warning of a rainstorm this week, is real. The idea that winter […]
November
With an extra hour tucked into my pocket like a newfound treasure, I watched as the morning sky kept it’s daily promise to shake the dark from its edges and bring back the sun. And I thought, welcome November, welcome. In Southern California November’s arrival means autumn has permission to really show up. Crisp air. Brilliant foliage. […]
Write What Haunts You
“Write what haunts you, lest you spend your life amidst drivel. Write what you care most about, the beauty, the absurdity, and the sorrow of the world.”–Jane Resh Thomas In the quiet of an unoccupied room I exhaled the words I’d just read in a whisper… “Write what haunts you…” Had you asked me prior to […]
The Blog: Perspective Day 12
As if it were yesterday, I remember launching my first website. It went “live” and then everything that was wrong with the copy became obvious. Glaring typos. Run-on sentences. Tense errors. Oh my. My brother John was visiting. We sat side by side in front of my computer and smoothed out all of the grammatical […]
The Re-Write
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” ― Ernest Hemingway Bleeding about sums it up, although in my case, it was at a computer where I bled-out my first draft. Galvanized by my desire to add a real story to the well of fictional stories that […]