A Quick Update It’s been a hectic time in my life. As some of you know, I got offered a job in and out of Fiji. In preparation for this job, I spent the last few months reminding myself how to fly an aeroplane. That included returning to Hong Kong for a simulator check to renew my license. What was the result of all this hard work? Well, … Continue reading I Took a Break From Writing and I Didn’t Miss It
The other day I was editing a post I’d written about the dichotomy between gratitude and greed when a similar post popped up from the delightful and lovely blogger, Julia Preston. It wasn’t exactly the same – she was talking about a similar tension between love and fear. But it was close enough that I felt my internal defensiveness spark off instantly. Something like a … Continue reading Am I Copying? Getting Over Writing Defensiveness
The last time I took a new job I wasn’t a writer. Well, I wrote white papers and technical manuals so I could put pen to paper. But I didn’t have a personal writing practice. But four months into a new job and I’m surprised how much creativity is a part of my job. Sheesh, that sounded dry. Bear with me – I think I’m … Continue reading Creativity as a Job Skill
Two days ago, I was in the car with my friend on the way to listen to a book reading. As we drove, my friend commented on how observant my four-year-old son is. It immediately sparked some stories about conversations we have when he’s riding in the back seat of the car. Like on a recent frosty morning when we passed a baseball field and … Continue reading Creatively Seeing
At a recent elementary school open house, my daughter’s third grade teacher said something profound. Well, she said a lot of wise things, because the knowledge of teachers is immense. But one particularly thing about writing and reading that caught my ear. Here it is – that she looks for books for these young readers to be either “windows” or “mirrors.” Windows are the books … Continue reading Writing Windows and Mirrors
I had to have the conversation with my eight-year-old daughter the other day. You know the one I mean? About Santa? We were driving in the car and I broached the subject as “Do you want to talk about what your friend said the other day about Santa?” Two days before I’d overheard her friend tell her that Santa wasn’t real. Then the friend took … Continue reading Do You Believe In Magic? Do You Write About It?
I’ve been speed reading blogs lately. My apologies to anyone with whom I haven’t done a good job of keeping in touch. Somehow, I got behind (I say it somehow like I don’t know how, but we all know how life piles up sometimes). Then with notifications that I had 200+ blogs to read, just from the blogs that I follow, I endeavored to speed … Continue reading Speed Reading
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?
There was a carousel in the town I grew up in that held a special attraction for me as a kid. It was originally built in 1909 and had beautifully carved wooden horses big enough that they could create the illusion of really riding. But in addition to that, the ride purveyors had added a chute of rings that riders on outside horses could reach. … Continue reading The Universal You
Context The catalyst for this post was my most recent Introductions Over Coffee #10 post. There I discuss why new bloggers should use a name. That got me thinking about the nature of identity. In particular, why we feel its necessary for others to have names, why it might be difficult to pick a name and the likelihood of exclusion as a result. These are … Continue reading Identity: What’s in a name?
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
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
How we blog; where our inspiration comes from can be quite a topical discussion. In this post I consider the arguments for and against using prompts to guide our writing. Continue reading An alternative approach: Using prompts in blogging
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
I’ve recently discovered that there are a lot of parallels between having a new job and a new puppy. Weren’t expecting that combo? Let me explain. Both making doing yoga in the morning hard. And both benefit from a lot of training. In some instances when they get a hold of you just right, both have sharp teeth that bite. Not to mention that both … Continue reading Unlikely Learning Mates
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
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, … Continue reading Great First Lines
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?
The other day I landed on a blog post and as I scrolled down to add a comment, I saw that there were already 41 comments. That set me back on my heels. What else could I possibly add to the conversation? Funny how a number can spark self-doubt. It’s like joining a big group of people at a party that have already been talking … Continue reading The Art of the Comment
I was talking with author Lois Roelofs about her newly released book, Marv Taking Charge, and she made the comment that she started blogging back in the day because she was told she needed a platform. As an aside, she said, “Whatever a platform is.” Right – whatever a platform is. Presumably, some sort of online presence so that we can meet and share what … Continue reading Building a Platform
