Wynne Leon is an optimist, an enthusiast of endurance sports and a woman intent in charting her own path. Which is a combination that has led to an unconventional life. When she was younger a life of adventure meant climbing mountains, traveling the world and being an entrepreneur. More recently, it’s been starting a family as a single parent at age 46, having another child at age 50 and adopting a highly-strung kitten, even though she really is a dog person. Her writing projects include technical computer manuals, articles about meditation and parenting, and Finding My Father’s Faith, a memoir about spirituality, solace and her relationship with her beloved father.
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 … More The Writer’s Mission Statement
After I wrote the post about my mother, The Choices We Make: My Mom The Spy, my friend Eric was over at my house and read it, so my seven-year-old daughter wanted to a turn to read it. She said liked the part “Instead of secret meetings at night, she was called to hold our … More Can I Tell You a Secret?
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 … More Writing Outside of the Box
There’s a family joke that my mom is a CIA agent. Even now at 83-years- old, when we mention it, she just smiles and shrugs her shoulders, or says there is no point in denying it because we wouldn’t believe her. As with most jokes, there is a kernel of truth in it. My very … More The Choices We Make: My Mom the Spy
On a recent podcast, Dan Harris was telling a story about when he suggested to his wife, a physician who graduated top in her class from a prestigious medical school and has practiced at some of the best teaching hospitals, that she might suffer from Imposter’s Syndrome. His wife’s response made me laugh out loud. … More The Imposter Syndrome in Blogging
I was recently reminded of the time I did a long-distance bike trip on a bike with mountain biking tires. Here’s how that colossal misjudgment came to happen. The first time I did a really intense workout to prepare for an upcoming mountain climb, my legs were shaking, I thought I’d pass out or throw … More Endurance versus Enjoyment
On the last morning I saw my beloved dad, he greeted me with a hearty “You look great.” His untimely death a short time later has permanently etched all the details of that breakfast into my treasure box of memories: the yellow walls of the Varsity Restaurant on NE 65th street, the booth in the … More Writing Last Lines That Count
I wrote this post early Monday morning. Around 3:43am that is. I have all sorts of things I do in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep. Mostly worry. Then I review my to-do list. Then I go back to worrying some more. Usually after about a half an hour of tossing and … More Writing In The Dark
A couple of years ago, there was a spectacular sunrise worth noticing. Anyone who has seen my Instagram feed knows that sunrise posts are one of my staples. But this particular sunrise is memorable because I scooped up my kids who were aged 5 and 1 at the time and took them to the deck … More The Power of Awe
This past Saturday night I was over having dinner at my friends’ Rachel and Karl’s house. As our kids happily played together, we talked about technology, philosophy, and their recent vacation to Mexico and I marveled at how much I enjoy their friendship. It started because their daughter and mine were in a preschool co-op … More The Art and Science of Making Friends
The other day I read a beautiful post that was a tribute to a dearly departed pet. It was so touching and zinged me right where there’s a sore spot from missing my beloved dog, Biscuit, who died six years ago. I had to walk away for about 30 minutes before I could write a … More Writing From The Heart
When I started putting together the memoir I wrote about my father, I had the good fortune of connecting with a great writing coach, Sheila. As she explained it to me, her job was to be the “ultimate reader” – the person who asked the questions about temporal lapses, gaps in the storyline, or unexplained … More The Ultimate Reader
I think every one of my dad’s sermons that I’ve heard or read opened with a bit of humor or personal story. It was his way of connecting – enticing the audience to want to listen and maybe even exhale a bit so they could take something deeper in. My dad was a Presbyterian pastor … More Tips on Love
The other night my brother, Jay, and I were out to dinner with his wife and another friend. Jay and I were sitting next to each other and my friend said it was funny to watch us with our synchronized big smiles, expressiveness, and gesticulating. We were talking about writing, something neither of us do … More Is Being A Writer an Inherited Trait?
We’ve been working hard to mold Wise & Shine into a community for readers and writers. This best of post is intended to provide a peek into the collaborative efforts and other content you may have missed. Please sign up for the newsletter to get information on content and contests. Heads Up Podcast Updates: We’ve … More Best of January
I’m riffing the title of this post from Jack Canfora’s Things I Think I’ve Learned So Far because Jack’s post is one of my favorites and I’m too tired from parenting to think of one of my own. And that matches with my experience of parenting – you have to take small favors and lifts … More Things About Parenting I Think I’ve Learned So Far
We’ve been working hard to mold Wise & Shine into a community for readers and writers. This best of post is intended to provide a peek into the collaborative efforts and other content you may have missed. Please sign up for the newsletter to get information on content and contests. Cool Projects that Make a … More Best of December
When Todd Fulginiti recently published a post There is Try: Why Yoda Was Wrong it made me want to know more about whether he’s always been open to trying new things and if there is something or someone that inspires that cycle of resilience. Luckily we were able to talk about all that and more … More Podcast Episode 12: On Trying New Things
We’ve been working hard to mold Wise & Shine into a community for readers and writers. This best of post is intended to provide a peek into the collaborative efforts and other content you may have missed. Please sign up for the newsletter to get information on content and contests. Step 9, an audio play … More Best of November
Recently I woke up early one morning knowing that I had to apologize to a friend. In my tiredness the night before, I had conflated my feelings about two different things going on in my life and unnecessarily laid it at my friend’s door. In my apology, I borrowed some wisdom from my father, “My … More Podcast Episode 10: On Step 9, Apologies and Healing