grey concrete bridge on body of water under blue and white sky during daytime

Is Short Form Content What We Want?

The stats on my personal blog show that the most viewed posts are my weekly ones where I publish photos that I took during the week with a quote. The themes vary based on activities – vacation, the puppy, my kids, hiking but they generally are the fruits of enjoying life. These posts are short and sweet. But the stats also show that my longer … Continue reading Is Short Form Content What We Want?

photo of assorted letter board quote hanged on wall

Your Favorite Writer Quotes

After posting My Favorite Writer Quotes last week, I loved the ones submitted in the comments so much that here’s a post of your favorite writer quotes. “People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character.” – Ralph Waldo EmersonSubmitted by the insightful and delightful Vicki Atkinson of the Victoria Ponders blog “One thing that … Continue reading Your Favorite Writer Quotes

person sitting on wooden chair

My Favorite Writer Quotes

I think it’s safe to say that writing is the subject that I’ve studied longest. Sure, it started with just grasping the pencil with some dexterity and has developed through school essays, technical writing, and now to developing a personal angle with memoir writing, and blogging. But whatever the genre, it feels like an incredibly rich and vast subject of study. So here are five … Continue reading My Favorite Writer Quotes

beautiful casual cute day

The Inspiration to Write: A Short Vignette

I was sitting at my kitchen table working yesterday afternoon, trying to tie up the last few items before closing my laptop and going to get my kids when the doorbell rang. It was the <ding-dong><ding-dong><ding-dong> of repeated bell pushes used most frequently by the 7-years-old and under set. So I wasn’t surprised to find the 6-year-old twins from four doors down the street hanging … Continue reading The Inspiration to Write: A Short Vignette

people at theater

Do It Again: The Gift of Having to Repeat Ourselves

I was recently lucky enough to be able to talk about the magic of theater in a podcast conversation with writer, playwright, and Wise & Shine colleague, Jack Canfora. As we talked about the powerful feeling of a night in the theater when it all comes together and just works, he told me a story about Laurence Olivier and young Maggie Smith. After a night … Continue reading Do It Again: The Gift of Having to Repeat Ourselves

three persons sitting on the stairs talking with each other

Do You Like My Writing Or Are We Just Friends?

It’s funny the things that I read that stick with me. I’m thinking of a post about 15 years ago from a high school friend on Facebook that said something like, “I notice that there are some people whose only activity here is posting and they don’t spend any time liking or commenting on other people’s stuff.” My friend was a year older than me … Continue reading Do You Like My Writing Or Are We Just Friends?

mission wooden blocks on white surface

The Writer’s Mission Statement

I started blogging on WordPress because I wanted to practice writing. Although I’ve written and published, mostly technical books but also a memoir about my beloved father, I had a sense that I could hone the skill of putting words together to describe life and myself more adeptly. What I’ve found is that the practice of writing has changed me. Whenever I put life down … Continue reading The Writer’s Mission Statement

close up of hands

Writing Outside of the Box

Early on in my technical career, I was contracted by Microsoft to write some of their certification exams. When they were releasing a new product, it was a brilliant way to push the technical partners to train and adopt the new product and also convince their customer base that there were partners ready and able to help them implement the new technology. The questions went … Continue reading Writing Outside of the Box