I’ll arrive at my 18th South by Southwest later today. I can barely remember what that first experience was like. I certainly didn’t imagine it to be a life-changing one. And yet, I owe much of what I do today to my experiences there.
I’ll be blogging this year’s experience at The Cult of Me, [...]
A few years ago, my world was crashing.
I’d met a girl. A fabulous girl. We shared the same interests, the same passions in life. We were Type As who liked the home when we weren’t working. And we liked to drink. And write.
Of course we hit it off instantly and found ourselves in a [...]
Driving through the California desert and into the vast emptiness of Arizona after seven days digging through my family’s past, I’ve had this song in my head all day. And I wonder how I have ended up where I am. Sometimes I think I took a wrong turn:
I’ve never been much help to my students when they’ve asked me for advice on becoming a writer.
It’s not because I don’t want to be helpful. I remember their angst and confusion and loneliness, trying to contemplate a life where I get paid to simply put words on a page. It seemed, to steal from [...]
I’ve stopped and started this post several times today, which is ironic considering the idea behind it. These things happen, though, and I’ve made my peace with such contradictions in my life.
Enough with the trying to say it perfectly. I’m just going to let it rip:
I do not understand people who refuse to have a [...]
It’s Sunday. Day Four of my Western Road Trip.
I won’t lie. I’m a bit worn out right now. I’ve already logged 350 driving miles (not counting the 60 mile trip to the airport) and four hours of flight time. I’m ready to relax, something that won’t happen until tomorrow at the earliest.
This is a gauntlet, [...]
I’m sitting in the Bagel Nosh, a little half-baked cafe in Phoenix just down the street from my parent’s time share.
It’s a gorgeous day, mid-seventies. A far cry from the grey and wintery white that has blanked Indiana for the past month. Truthfully, though, the grey and the winter haven’t bothered me this year, not [...]
Out there in the spotlight/You’re a million miles away
Every ounce of energy/You try to give away
As the sweat pours out your body/Like the music that you play
Later in the evening/As you lie awake in bed
With the echoes from the amplifiers/Ringin’ in your head
You smoke the day’s last cigarette,/Rememberin’ what she said
***
I should start by [...]
I’ve never been very good with goodbyes.
Actually, it’s endings I disliked. The sense of loss, the incomplete-ness of it. A closed door that is never quite shut but inevitably locked. Always knowing there are things – some unknow-able things – that are happening on the other side.
For years, I fought against endings. And in some [...]
There’s not much in my tank tonight, which means precious few words are dancing in my head. Then again, I never put a word length on the 90 in 90 challenge. Still, it feels wrong to simply post a few random thoughts. Disingenuous because the goal of the project isn’t simply publishing every day. It’s [...]
