Completion… Tempted to Quit Writing? 3 Nov 201131 Oct 2011 "Struggling with your novel? Paralyzed by the fear that it’s nowhere near good enough? Feeling caught in a trap of your own devising? You should probably give up." Lemony Snicket My…
Books… “The Power of Your Past” 13 Oct 201113 Oct 2011 The week of my birthday, I won a book! (The Berrett-Kohler newsletter I've recommended to you has a challenge, and I entered.) And because I was in transition, stepping from…
Caring… Hamlet in Prison 12 Jul 201111 Jul 2011 Jack Hitt's hour-long report for This American Life on Hamlet performed by prisoners, originally broadcast in 2002, has inspired me all week with its deep insights about Hamlet and encouragement for…
Caring… Friday Flick: Music with Shining Eyes 8 Jul 201110 Jul 2011 If you've never loved classical music before, give Ben Zander twenty-one minutes to change your heart. If you've loved it already, share this with someone who could use a little…
Blogging… Publishing as Independence 4 Jul 201116 May 2017 "Are you published?" It's the first question an industry outsider will ask, while a fellow writer will get to it eventually, however tactfully. "So tell me about your work!" But…
Courage… Scheduling Improv 21 Jun 2011 Listening to Krista Tippetts' interview with musician Bobby McFerrin, it first surprised me that he ever considered joining a monastic order, and that the main attraction was the silence! He…
Baby Boomers… Beginning Again? 18 Jun 201118 Jun 2011 Does it feel as though you're always starting over? I'm beginning new projects, new rounds of old projects, new teaching quarter. Therefore, clients and students are doing the same; some…
Advertising… Friday Flick: Flashmob on Recycling 17 Jun 2011 Can you imagine if every gesture of conservation and kindness received such a welcome? Do it anyway.
Books… If You Ask Advice from an Author 15 Jun 2011 If you ask 22 author friends for advice, they'll write you a whole book! Steve Silberman had been reporting on professionals with autism/Asperper's and became an expert on such neurodiversity,…
Caring… Dead Grandmothers 9 Jun 20119 Jun 2011 We've been known to joke about it in faculty meetings: how many grandparents some students can lose in a single year. (And yes, we do name names.) Here's one professor's concerns…
Books… How Do I Know? 6 Jun 2011 A friend asked today, "How do I know if anyone wants to read what I'm going to write?" Great question! Here are my first three thoughts about that: 1) You…
Caring… Record of Settlement 4 Jun 20113 Jun 2011 Icelander Baldur Hedinsson can trace his lineage to 1075; that's how complete the Icelandic records are. It's a culture based on reading through the dark winters and they wrote, too. (Oh,…