all over the map

the true meaning of Christmas

2006-12-26T20:23:00.000-08:00

My favorite presents this Christmas weren't things I got, although between Christmas and my "early" birthday gifts (my birthday is New Year's Eve), I made out just fine.

This is a ThingMaker, originally made circa 1967. It was Scooter's favorite toy as a child. After I found this out in an internet "holiday quiz" a week before Christmas, I conspired with two friends to buy one for her. Several Ebay auctions and rush postage payments later, we surprised her with it over pizza and wings on Saturday.

I've never been very good at surprise gifts, so I am pleased at myself for being able to pull it off (with a lot of help). But the look on her face when she opened the present, and all the memories it unleashed for her--that was priceless.

Will I feel the same way when we move into our townhouse and she's cooking up melted plastic creatures in our kitchen? I don't know, but for now it's been the most holiday fun I've had in a long, long time.

The other holiday joy, of course, was the grandson. He's 17 months, and just old enough to thoroughly enjoy the season without getting really attached to it. Here he is with his beloved balloons, brought to him by Scooter on Christmas morning.

And here he is with baby's first power tools--his daddy got him a toy circular saw (pictured) and a toy chainsaw. Note the maniacal gleam in his eye. :)

And here he is resting after his gift-opening labors.

marching in the parade of scary photos

2006-11-15T18:47:00.000-08:00

I've been digging through the old boxes in my garage in preparation for my move to a new townhouse (on which construction has come to a screeching halt, Scooter tells me, but that's a whole 'nuther story). So we get to see Lizmos of yesteryear, along with a few friends.

Here I am (on the right) with my sisters at my eldest sister's high school graduation. I'm not sure what sort of medication or chocolate was offered to get me into that long dress, but obviously it worked. This is the good life in my suburban hometown, circa 1977.

Here I am in 1986 with my junior prom date. I think he really dug me. I dug him because I wasn't intimidated by him. Sigh...he was a really nice guy and I always wonder what happened to him after college.

Finally, here we are in 1987 and I am about to graduate. That's Lobster on my left. Way too much to go into about how we know each other...it's just a cute photo. We both loved jazz, so standing in front of the drums seems appropriate, even if neither of us play them.

I found plenty more, but haven't had time to scan them in. So I'll probably comment on my excavations of the past. Suffice it to say it's been like Christmas morning, a therapy session and an archaeological dig all rolled into one. :)

back from oblivion

2006-10-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

So, three months have passed and I've thought about blogging many times, but not done an entry. Or maybe I've spent more time wondering why I wasn't blogging.
It's not like I wouldn't have company if I continued the hiatus indefinitely. Yorkist Rose has gone "off the air," as has Dream Big and in all likelihood Blast 'o Joy.
Midwest Rock Lobster soldiers on, as does everyone's favorite lesbian Pez fanatic AP3.
Being worn out most nights after work definitely has played a role in my silence, as has feeling at a loss about what was "safe" to write about. I think I have done almost as much as I can in "covert" blogging mode.
I'm thinking about having a more public blog tied to my most recent freelance interest, in becoming a creativity coach. Long-term readers (all three of you) will remember last summer I put myself in the helpful hands of a coach, and as I continued to avail myself of a coach's services, I've had some real improvements in my ability to create. And besides: it's an opportunity to hang out with creative people all day, study my favorite topic (creativity-related topics explain about 90 percent of my interest in psychology) and provide a neat peg to hang my aspirations to run a workshop/speaking/writing empire on. You can learn more about the field in general here.

sweating and spending

2006-07-09T10:18:00.000-07:00

We're deep in the Phoenix mid-summer blast furnace, or sweatshop, I guess I should say. Most years, the weather shifts from hellish hot and dry to hellish hot and humid. In a way it's sort of comforting, because it's a little like summers in the midwest, where I grew up. Except it rarely stays above a hundred degrees every day all summer in Kansas (well, at least for now--give global warming a couple of decades...).

I'm still plugging away at freelancing. I agreed to do a travel piece (enticing people into coming here, not jetting off to a cooler locale) for the local convention and visitors bureau, and so I'm checking things out on that side of town before I write the piece. I've got another IABC newsletter piece to finish and edit, which will then get recycled into something I pitch to another (for-pay) writing magazine.

I've got a couple of pro bono things cooking, too. I'm advising a local charity on their publicity efforts, and I volunteered (no, insisted) that I shoot a video documentary of my parents' 50th wedding anniversary party, which took place in late June. As I load the footage onto the computer to edit it, I'll try to load some stills onto the blog for my circle of a half-dozen readers to enjoy.

The trip back to Kansas City was fun, if brief. Scooter couldn't come, so that was sad. But I was there just long enough to enjoy an unusually cool (80 degrees) weekend, take a couple of walks through the old 'hood, and enjoy the party and a Sunday evening dinner at my sister's house in Spring Hill. If I'd been there any longer I would have missed Scooter too much--and when I got home, I would have missed my hometown too much. Three days was just enough.

Our next magazine issue at work will feature a special section on our university's president. Writing about your boss's boss's boss is always sort of a minefield. But we'll do our best, and see how it goes. :)

Ok, maybe I'm not such a naughty blogger.

2006-06-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

Good old Cyberjournalist.net, coming to the rescue to cover my laggardly blogging booty with this article about "Why Blog Post Frequency Does Not Matter Anymore."

I doubt that I'm so much Web 3.0 (whatever that means) as I am just typical. It seems everyone wants to play with their new blog-toy when they first set it up, but eventually has to attend to work, family or simple exhaustion and sacrifice daily posts.

Well, when I'm not avoiding blogging, I'm actually sending things to editors. I'm really pleased with the momentum I've gotten from my freelancing. I've got a huge backlog of writing-instruction type articles/article ideas to pitch to everyone from Writer's Digest to your local IABC chapter newsletter, I've made friends with the editor of my alma mater's alumni magazine (editing one myself proved to be a lovely way to start the conversation...) and plan to start pitching ideas at her until she assigns me one to write, and I'm starting to assemble some of the writing instruction stuff into a workshop.

I'm also still doing resumes for my client, although that's moving a little slower than last month. Still, I'm not complaining...

Oh, and that day job? Still assigning myself too many articles to write for the next issue. There's just too damn many fun things going on at my employer to give them all away to freelancers.

If you notice that I haven't mentioned much about the rest of my life, it feels like life in Phoenix in the summer is on hold--or simmer, I'm not sure which. Scooter and I went swimming at our friend's house last night and managed not to get blistering sunburns ala last July. The grandson is cute and adorable and talking and walking more and more.

That's all for now... :)

naughty blogger

2006-06-03T22:09:00.000-07:00

Boy, have I been bad about blogging...
I should probably apologize personally to the half-dozen or so people that I believe check this blog occasionally for signs of life. I'm fine. Been busy, the heat in Phoenix is now cranked up to "bake" (115 degrees today), and I just don't spend a lot of time on the computer at home, unless I'm doing freelance work on the weekends.
I've had some successes on the freelance front. An old client (old meaning I've worked for her on and off since 2000, not that SHE's old) has given me some resume-writing and editing work for her company. I prepare candidate resumes when she's ready to sell a client on this person as being THE solution for a project they need done. It's been great fun. And it's paid well.
Several freelance pitches have gotten at least nibbles. I'm still grinding away at Echo, doing their column once a month. I did an article on women's music festivals in May and that was both easy and fun. Bright Livelihood has sort of reached a sticking point--I'm struggling to name newspapers to pitch the idea to. So I've focused more on plotting the editor-to-writing-coach strategy (through building up a portfolio of clips on how to write, doing more editing projects, etc.) and less on my "creative career design" column--for now.
That's enough news for now. Just wanted you all to know I'm still kicking. :)

baby's first easter

2006-04-29T09:45:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since I posted photos of Scooter's grandson. He's nine months old now and is cruising up a storm.

He's got six teeth, although we were concerned two of them (the front top two!) were in jeopardy after he pulled the piano bench on top of himself the other day. He ended up being ok.

The bench was exiled to the garage of Scooter's daughter's house immediately.

question exhaustion--especially your own

2006-04-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

I'm back. It would be a pleasant fiction to say I consciously put this blog on the back burner. It's more like I sort of blanked it out of existence for a couple of weeks. Simply too tired to even look at other blogs, much less post to mine. :)

The "writing on the bus" strategy is going well. I won't say it beats being able to create in a non-mobile environment, but it cuts through my tendency to wait until...later...to complete a project and put unnecessary pressure on myself to finish.

I've never thought of myself as a procrastinator, so I'm a pretty messy one. No glorious excuses, proud affirmations of my style, or blaming others for my disorganization. Just muffled whining and crying about the shame of it all.

I'm starting a short project today editing resumes for an old client of mine who places technical writers and instructional designers in temporary jobs. The gig pays well, and can be done in little bite-size segments, so I'm happy.

I had set myself a deadline for getting my sales package for Bright Livelihood (the column) together by Easter, and I met it. I'm fiddling with editing and presentation, but probably need to set another deadline to make sure I start sending it out.

I've got a couple of other query type things to do after I get this other stuff rolling. The query a week plan is still on hold, but not permanently.

question authority--especially your own

2006-03-25T13:49:00.000-08:00

Wow, I just finished a very encouraging writing session today. I put one article manuscript in the e-mail, and just sent another e-query, as well. Both are about the same person and their work, but are tweaked in slightly different ways to sell to different publications.

What has been different about this session is that I did most of the actual WRITING on the bus. I've finally broken my long-standing "rule" that I can't write non-opinion stuff anywhere but in front of the computer at home. While it is harder to dig up facts and exact quotes, it's possible to tag my notes (often kept in the same steno book as my interviews and writings) while doing a structural outline, and make the actual writing part as simple as plugging things in.

In other words, the hard work is in drawing up a "road map" or "blue print" for the article, not so much in writing it. That's often true for me, anyway.

I've already heard back on the manuscript submission (I sent a cc: to the managing editor, knowing that THEY handle the manuscripts--job-related secret knowledge!) already. It's at least going to be considered at the next issue's meeting. That's encouraging. It's a big newsstand magazine, so it's a nice encouragement that it wasn't rejected out of hand. :)

I've been focusing on always having at least one query or submission in the works at all times, instead of my New Year's resolution of one-query-a-week, and I find that I end up sending two at once! I can't say if that's me needing "escape velocity" for more than one project to let them all GO and be seen by editors or some other force at work.

Anyway, feeling a little more encouraged about there being some income potential in this freelancing I'm doing. It's not the only reason I do what I do, but it is part of the equation, so this has been a nice feeling that my productivity will some day bear financial fruit.

Defending the art of children

2006-03-11T11:35:00.000-08:00

Eric Maisel, a therapist, creativity coach and author of a number of novels and books on creativity, has written a delightful entry at his blog about the creativity of children and how adults sometimes react. It's a really cute story. Read it here.

coming down off of crisis mode...

2006-03-08T17:49:00.000-08:00

Finally got through the big awards dinner at work. I produced (shepherded) the videos for the evening and things went off without a hitch. Thank GOD!

After a week or two of tense urgent-crisis mode, I'm finally coming down off the adrenaline high. Flitting around in that state is not my cup of tea, which is one of many reasons I'm not a reporter at a daily newspaper. I can't think clearly when I'm pulling the bacon out of the fire every five minutes. (Or the peppers off the grill, if you prefer some sort of veggie shiskabab imagery.)

It's time for the Echo column again, and I think I have something that will work. I was inspired by the antics of the Arizona Senate, which has had a bill floating around that would require teachers to create alternate assignments for any students who had moral objections to a reading assignment or class activity.

My take is that having to deal with things that morally offend us is a GOOD thing--not that intolerance or injustice is good, but being stretched and forced to respond creatively is better than cutting ourselves off from a world that upsets and irritates, as well as delights and mystifies us.

I took a break last week (partially because of day job madness, as described above) from my query-a-week treadmill. I plan to send out a short article (no query needed) this week, and aim for four queries a month.

That change isn't just semantic--it's an attempt to balance my desire to get my ideas and proposals out there regularly with the need to have time to consider what I'm sending out well enough to send out things that will actually be compelling to editors. I also took a break because I was feeling like I was doing it by rote, and if I feel that way, I can't imagine my letters are sounding fresh and interesting...

couldn't have said it better myself

2006-02-22T19:13:00.000-08:00

Here's a quote from the creator of the popular Craigslist site--the epitome of citizens helping citizens--about the veracity of "citizen journalists." I like what he has to say. There used to be a difference between being an eyewitness to an event, and being considered trained in journalistic principles of balance, fact-checking, etc. Both are needed, and both are important. It's also important not to confuse the two roles.

Found this over at the Cyberjournalist site--a nice place for those who put words up on the web for a living.

Craiglist's founder: no substitute for professional journalism

"There's no substitute for professional-level writing and fact-checking and editing. One of the tenets of the effort I'm involved with is to drive more traffic to professional news sites. People have gotten too excited about citizen journalism, and they're not addressing the balance well."

-- Craig Newmark

a month without rain...or blogs

2006-02-04T10:09:00.000-08:00

In addition to no rain, Phoenix has the crappiest air quality in the known universe this winter (see above photo)! I think we're making Houston and LA look positively green by comparison...

Goodness, has it really been almost a month since I wrote in this blog? Is ANYONE still reading this (besides me and maybe Scooter)? Why don't you uncloak and comment in the blog so I can determine if I'm really just posting my diary online or if I should address some big hairy issue in true blogger style. (Not that I wouldn't do that if it's just me and my shadow, but I'll probably make more of an effort if I have an audience.)

I've been busy on the writing front. I set as a goal for myself in 2006 to write a magazine article query (a letter to interest an editor into making an assignment) EVERY WEEK. So far, so good, although I'm learning why a lot of savvy writers find a topic they think has potential and send out several queries to several non-competing markets. Trying to find enough research for the query, given my crazy bus-enabled commute to work, is tough to do over and over each week. But the hope is to sell some articles on HR/workplace/career issues and be a big ol' "expert" by the time I'm trying to sell my Bright Livelihood column.

I'm also working on selling my services as an editor. I'm guessing copy editing gigs will be easier to get than what my ultimate aim is: getting work as an assignment or developmental editor. Those types are really close to being writing "coaches," because they work on structural issues with writers (often on book-length manuscripts), rather than being on endless comma patrol. I'm writing some articles to distribute to little markets (such as newsletters) filled with potential clients. I may also try to get my information in front of newbie writers who have fairly ambitious projects. I don't think I'm a writing teacher, but I can be a friendly coach.

The day job is good...we're going into production for the next issue so I'm busy.

In other news, the grandson is growing like a weed. Here's a cute pic. Look how much he's grown since the Santa photo! :)

post-holiday musings

2006-01-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm back. After being sick most of December and not getting the full mileage out of Advent that I'm used to, I finally started feeling better around the turn of the year. I had a rockin' birthday party on New Year's Eve, complete with scary-movie and alien conspiracy theory talk around the firepit and a drumming circle (ok, it was more like a clot; we were posing for the video camera for the video I will edit out of the footage for my creative contribution to the event) to ring (or beat) in 2006.

I have my writing goals for 2006; I want to focus on writing Bright Livelihood and career/workplace articles for magazines and newspapers, seek out editing/co-writing projects with clients and create some workshops/instructional seminars on various topics. I almost have my website set up, thanks to my friend Melissa. Scooter and I may revive our personal history service once again and roll it out.

So that's all positive. Some not so happy news: two dear friends from way, way back are getting a divorce. (Sigh.) One of Scooter and I's good friends that we have made this year, Matt the Wonderful (who helped us move our valuables back down to Phoenix last fall), is moving to California (double sigh). So life, as usual, is a mixed bag...but a full one nonetheless.

Oh, I do have a couple of choice sites I found during my blog hiatus...one for squirrel haters and one for traffic cone lovers. Enjoy!

christmas eve poem

2005-12-24T12:01:00.000-08:00

I found this at the Blog of the Grateful Bear. I think it's lovely, especially today.

Enjoy the holidays, and I hope 2006 brings light, love and peace to you, in whatever way works for you.

Light looked down and beheld darkness.
"Thither I will go," said Light.
Peace looked down and beheld war.
"Thither I will go," said Peace.
Love looked down and beheld hate.
"Thither I will go," said Love.

So Light came, and shone.
So Peace came, and gave rest.
So Love came, and gave light.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

Laurence Housman (1865-1959)

delete column?

2005-12-14T19:05:00.000-08:00

I wrote an entire column on Monday on the bus. However, it sucked. So yesterday I wrote another, on an almost entirely unrelated subject (inventing a new winter holiday-bad, how to make effective New Year's resolutions-good), which I think is going to fly.

I approach this particular column, which is opinion-based, in a very different way than I have been working on my Bright Livelihood sample columns. Obviously, it's easier to research and structure a documentary column (even if I have to invent a slant) than to "research" a column that's about what I feel.

Also, I should add that I worked for the publication that I'm doing the opinion column for for three years as an editor. I have a (largely unconscious) tendency to act as the "community thought leader" that I once thought I was. It's hard not to preach.

This isn't the first time I've rewritten a column and liked the result better. I am realizing though, how much pre-writing legwork (or thought work) makes a difference in whether I have to rewrite at all.

santa baby

2005-12-11T11:15:00.000-08:00

You knew it was coming...he's been kinda snuffy lately, but he LOVES Christmas lights and the carols we sing him. Can the joy of wrapping paper be far behind?

stories in the boardroom (or cubicle)

2005-12-07T19:05:00.000-08:00

Surfing the 'net today, I found this book: The Leader's Guide To Storytelling, by Steve Denning. Before you haul out your (very well-founded) cynicism about corporate storytelling, I think that it's a good sign that business types are focusing on stories as a means for communicating with customers.

I have had a related book, The Story Factor: Inspiration, Influence, and Persuasion Through the Art of Storytelling , in my possession for the last couple of years and I like it too.

another voice in the creation debate...

2005-12-04T18:35:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't been very active in the blogosphere lately...my friend's death and holiday illness have sort of taken the wind out of my sails lately. However, I'm planning to update my freelancing website, turn it into a sort of "portfolio" site that showcases my writing skills in a way that actually appeals to the reader and makes them want to hire/contract with me! (Imagine!) I hope to have the copy done for that by Christmas.

I've been watching the KU-Intelligent Design battle (see the latest development in the melodrama here, as well as this article about repercussions of the ID debate) with disappointment about the behavior of all sides. And I have many friends who are all over the spectrum of belief/certitude on this one.

I'd just like to introduce a couple providing an interesting, creative response to the whole idea of how to explain the orgins of life on Earth, as well as the orgins of the cosmos, period. Connie Barlow and Michael Dowd (a married couple) are a science writer and a former Pentacostal minister, respectively, and they are on the road with a traveling ministry called The Great Story. Their presentations and papers are a very interesting fusion of valuing traditional Christian (and other faiths') values, as well as our accumulated scientific knowledge. They also store some of their information on another website called Evolutionary Christianity.

Take what you like from their sites, and leave the rest. And take some time during the holiday rush to contemplate the mystery and wonder our orgins, no matter how you think humanity reached this time and place.

a friend passes

2005-11-14T18:43:00.000-08:00

I found out tonight that my friend Greg K. died of head injuries in an accident at home on Sunday. He had lived in Wisconsin for the last few years, taking care of his elderly mother and writing a series of New Age books based on his knowledge of numerology and other things. You can check out his website here.
I don't believe in many of the things that Greg did, but he was a wonderful friend and conversational partner when we both lived in the same apartment complex in 1997 and 1998. He encouraged me to build up my self-esteem when my relationship with my ex was very conflictual and scary; I encouraged him to write his autobiography, which seemed to help him pull together many strands of thought and seemed to help him follow his life's path as a spiritual counselor and writer.
I can't really explain to anyone who hasn't met Greg what he was like. He was a very short, ex-dairy farmer who was perhaps the world's shortest leather daddy. He had an odd sense of humor, but we found each others' jokes hilarious. He had his bad moods and struggled with his health constantly over the last few years of his life, but was very passionate about his take on the cosmos.
My last e-mail from Greg in September was about trusting Spirit and about letting go of control long enough to be guided by something beyond our own ego. I know Greg is out there in the cosmos somewhere, even if only in the hearts and memories of those who loved him. To me, that's the greatest "cosmic revelation" of all--love's legacy resonates far, far beyond the life of a single person.

letter by letter

2005-11-06T16:24:00.000-08:00

Well, we survived Halloween, but the only scary thing that happened was that the bus I was supposed to connect with on Oct. 31 never came, so I got home an hour later than usual. Not a single trick or treater at our overrun-with-wild-children apt. complex. I guess either everyone goes to the mall now, or they're just scared of us... :)

I'm working on my next Echo column. I brought a cache of old letters home from KC in early October, and I'm reading them. Not every single one...not sure why that seems like an impossible task...but enough from each letter-writer to get a good flavor of what our correspondence was like. I'm struck already by my whistfulness for the longer rhythms of written letters (vs. our short burst e-mail letters today). I'm still in contact with a lot of people by e-mail, and extremely grateful for it. Still, I wonder if our society has lost something... ok, I wonder if my communications with others have lost something by becoming almost entirely electronic.

And there's a number of people I have no idea where they are today. For some, it's probably best we've lost contact, but I just wonder about some others...I'd never have guessed when I was 18 where I'd be at 36, so I just have to wonder where the road of life has taken them.

I've set a lot of writing out to be accomplished before Thanksgiving: my Echo column, a front-of-book piece for Sojourners, a Bright Livelihood column. I can do it. The bus time will be full.

Scooter and I were listening to Sheryl Crow's Wildflower album this afternoon and I'm struck by her haunting melodies and her bittersweet lyrics. You can read her lyrics for "Perfect Lie" here.

big, slow ideas

2005-10-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

I was reading a post by Curt Rosengren over at Worthwhile Magazine's blog. I was happy to see that I was not the only person on earth to read Brenda Ueland (a very fiesty lady writer who wrote the book If You Want to Write in the 1930s, and it was just as relevant to me when I read it in college in the late 1980s.)
I'm also happy to see someone championing big, slow ideas, because I don't think that happens enough in this hyper-connected media-mad world...
Here's the entire post, since I think it's worth repeating:

Slow, big ideas
by Curt Rosengren on Creativity
"These people who are always briskly doing something and as busy as waltzing mice, they have little, sharp, staccato ideas, such as: "I see where I can make an annual cut of $3.47 in my meat budget." But they have no slow, big ideas."

- Brenda Ueland

I would venture to say that with our instant gratification culture, we tend to lean toward the little, sharp, staccato ideas. But it's the slow, big ideas that provide direction and a vision to move towards. Without those slow, big ideas, the staccato ideas end up being little more than random bursts of energy. Kind of a hamster wheel effect.

How do you slow down enough to give yourself time to cultivate the slow, big ideas? What helps to raise your focus to the bigger picture?

blog bog

2005-10-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

Good Lord, has it really been almost three weeks since my last entry? A perfect storm of anti-blogging factors are at work/responsible for this:
--I had three articles due last weekend and had to focus on writing them early enough to have time to edit them, and on getting them out on time.
--Our main, new, shiny, 160 GB hard drive Gateway is in a coma. We think the motherboard is fried, but we don't know yet. It is under warranty, thank the silicon powers that be.
--I have just been really, really tired most work nights and busy catching up on sleep and social skills on the weekend.
On the bright side, my writing notebook fairly sizzles with the work I've been doing on the bus each day. I've got FAQs for Bright Livelihood's sales packet, a prospecting letter for several trade magazines (looking for ongoing assignments), and a couple of query letters for specific articles I'd like to write waiting on the paper tarmac, ready to fly into the computer. Which, unfortunately is comatose.
While the computer is down, I'm dividing my internet time between our old (6 years old, which is about 100 in PC years) computer, and Scooter's daughter's PC. It makes saving documents a quandary: which one will have connectivity long enough for me to edit this? Send it to an editor? Etc.
In other news, Scooter and I will be pirates for Halloween. Those who live near us or are relatives probably have come to realize that pirates are our default costume and pretty much what we plan to be every Halloween. The cutest costume prize goes to Austin, the bubbly grandson, though. He now has a Harley rider outfit, complete with orange skull cap. The outfit is long-sleeved and is orange, black and white, so he will sort of look like a gigantic Tootsie roll. :) Gotta love it.

Two thoughts for the day

2005-10-09T11:45:00.000-07:00

Be a rebel--Be kind
A friend of mine, at the end of a retreat, offered a provocative reflection that intrigued and inspired me. After looking intensively at her inner experience for nine days of meditation and seeing many of her life choices in a brand new light, she commented, "If you really want to be a rebel, practice kindness."
There could be many wonderful extrapolations: "If you really want to be outrageous, be ethical." "If you want to go against the grain, be kindhearted." "If you want to live on your own terms, breaking out from expectation and external demands, practice love." "To be free, to be different, to be bold, be compassionate."
By Sharon Salzberg
Excerpted from The Force of Kindness.

Instructions
Give up the world; give up self; finally, give up God.
Find god in rhododendrons and rocks,
passers-by, your cat.
Pare your beliefs, your absolutes.
Make it simple; make it clean.
No carry-on luggage allowed.
Examine all you have
with a loving and critical eye, then
throw away some more.
Repeat. Repeat.
Keep this and only this:what your heart beats loudly for
what feels heavy and full in your gut.
There will only be one or two
things you will keep,
and they will fit lightly
in your pocket.

By Sheri Hostetler, from the anthology A Cappella: Mennonite Voices in Poetry

off the presses

2005-09-29T21:20:00.000-07:00

We got our first copies of our fall issue at work. Amazing when you consider we did color proofs last week. This printer is super--customer service that really lives up to the name, and excellent print quality! :)

Generating lots of freelance queries and ideas for Bright Livelihood. Going to be away from the PC for the next few days, but I'll be ready to rock 'n' roll when we return...

one by one

2005-09-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

I've been lax in the blog-o-sphere lately. The upside is that I'm actually getting some writing done! After months of hemming and hawing with my creativity coach about what projects to pursue, I finally popped up and committed to writing my sample Bright Livelihood columns and getting packets ready to put in front of editors.
After I made my first goal--finish ONE column--I actually finished ONE column. Then I did another one, then wrote my enticing (I hope) cover letter for the column packet. Hopefully Scooter will help me design a kick-ass logo for the letterhead and/or packet folders.
I pitched an online spirituality magazine for a short article, and plan to spin that off into short front-of-book pieces for a couple of other markets. I also decided to send ONE trade magazine editor my resume/clips, and got a "we'll put you in the freelance pool" response, which was what I was seeking.
The secret to all this has been: focus on one thing at a time. Anne Lamott talks about writing as if all you can see is contained by a one-by-one frame. It works for choosing/completing assignments too.
I also kicked out an Echo column yesterday. Started drafting a rant about lesbian relationship "processing" that wasn't very funny. I mean, the topic COULD be funny, but I just sounded caustic. In the end, I wrote a very tender-hearted essay about caring for my grandson. It reminded me I don't have to tackle huge issues and try to get really snarky laughs out of them every time I write for Echo--sometimes there's a lot more humor in my everyday madness.

sedona

2005-09-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

We also went to Sedona on Saturday, which is probably Scooter & I's favorite place on earth.

Here is Scooter playing with the red rocks.

baby and baby columns

2005-09-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't be a dutiful grandma without posting the g-son's photos. Austin will be two months old next Monday and he's up to 12 pounds already. He's holding his head up well, although he bobs and weaves a bit still. He has his colicky moments, but we love watching him laugh, coo, and look at the sheep-mobile that hangs above his bassinet/changing table at our house.

My Bright Livelihood column is seeing a growth period as well. I've got the first one written and will be working on one or two more this week. I'm finding good ideas--I don't think actually composing the column is going to be hard work. It's finding a home for the work that's always a challenge for me. I'll probably start posting tidbits from columns and research on the Bright Livelihood blog (brightlivelihood.blogspot.com), which right now has a lone intro entry.

words of wisdom

2005-09-01T21:54:00.000-07:00

Watching the events in the Gulf Coast, and trying to stay centered enough to not just sit around obsessing on it, I came across the following in the blog-o-sphere. Take what you like, leave the rest in the proverbial spiritual fridge for one of your fellow travelers.

From the Blog of the Grateful Bear (http://wildfaith.blogspot.com/):

Return To The Most Human...
Unison Benediction
a poem by May Sarton

Return to the most human,
nothing less will nourish the torn spirit,
the bewildered heart,
the angry mind:and from the ultimate duress,
pierced with the breath of anguish,
speak of love.

Return, return to the deep sources,
nothing less will teach the stiff hands a new way to serve,
to carve into our lives the forms of tenderness
and still that ancient necessary pain preserve.

Return to the most human,
nothing less will teach the angry spirit,
the bewildered heart,the torn mind,
to accept the whole of its duress,
and pierced with anguish...
at last, act for love.

~ May Sarton ~

And from the lovely and eclectic blog The Wild Things of God (http://frimmin.com/index.html)

Quit eating off the tree of the knowlege of good and evil - it didn't do anything for us to begin with and it isn't helping us today - just eat from the tree of life. Don't try to figure out whether where you are and what you are doing is good or evil, just figure out how to put you eyes and your heart on Jesus. Eating from the tree of Life is the easiest thing you'll ever do. The fruit is low to the ground where anyone can reach it. —Ron Jones

short takes

2005-08-28T12:08:00.000-07:00

It's been production time at work! At the same time, I've still been writing 10 short profiles for THIS issue, and editing 15-20 others. Aside from the obvious deadline issue, I've learned a lot about presenting the most tantalizing information about someone in the smallest amount of space. It's been interesting. I've talked to a scientist passionate about the rattlesnakes she studies, a new NASA administrator, and two young women who have set up a charity dedicated to helping refugees through the resettlement process. The profilees are all very young, and it's sort of been inspiring what these folks have gotten done before age 40.

Writing my monthly Echo column today and getting started on writing for Bright Livelihood. We moved the computer out into the front room, so my noise-cancelling headphones may be in for heavy usage. It's ok. Scooter's older daughter's living with us for six months, and we enjoy her musicality, intelligence and her sense of humor.

blogger's view of history

2005-08-21T09:57:00.000-07:00

Some of you have seen this, but I thought it was pretty dang funny:

http://mena.typepad.com/photos/viewmaster/1.html

blog days of summer

2005-08-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

I apologize for my infrequent posts of late, but such seems to be the way of my own personal circle of bloggers, with a few notable exceptions, such as Yorkistrose at Poetry in the Everyday (http://yorkistrose.blogspot.com/) and of course, Lobster (http://midwestrocklobster.blogspot.com/).

However, I'd like to point readers to a few of the other wonderful blogs I've been dipping into. Not that they really have any relevancy to my writing, but they are just a heck of a lot of fun, or provocative, to read.

For a little bit of a laugh, or a tiny tear, check out Echos From Aral in Pezland at http://aralecho.blogspot.com/ . It's the only Quaker-Lefty-Lesbian-Martial Arts-Ice Hockey Goalie blog that features pictures of family members with pez heads superimposed on their faces. Last week, Pez-lady wrote a very moving tribute to her late brother and what his death has meant to her life since then.

Another spiritually connected blog I like is, as I mentioned before, Darrell Grizzle's Blog of the Grateful Bear (http://wildfaith.blogspot.com/). He's been quiet for much of the past month, but a recent post on "why we flee silence" was meaty enough in two quotes to keep me fed for days.

For those wanting to understand how blogging is affecting the so-called real world of journalism, there is CyberJournalist.net's J-Blog list of official and personal sites run by reporters and other journalists (http://www.cyberjournalist.net/cyberjournalists.php).

Or, if you just want a little fun, you can check out my writing friend Bill Konigsberg's Six Degrees of Separation. He's a novelist and sports writer who gained some fame several years ago by coming out as an openly gay sports-loving man while working as an assistant editor for ESPN.com. His six degrees page is just fun--and you have to love a man who can write about football well AND who went to high school with Diana Ross's daughter. He's at http://www.billkonigsberg.com/separation.html.

More later. Off to rearrange furniture! :)

idea birth

2005-08-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, first we'll start with the obligatory grandson photo. Don't worry, that's not his pizza in the background, that's his daddy's. He's still wearing a milk mustache. :)

I've been crafting plans for the next year in terms of my writing outside of work. And I do need a plan. As much as I dread marketing myself, it has to be done...and for me to take freelancing seriously, some direction is in order.

On the other hand, my creativity coach said she sensed I was the nose-to-the-grindstone sort and could use some fun. I agree. I have some addictive little video editing projects that might help in that regard, as well as a couple of creative nonfiction/essay/memoir type writings in the back of my mind that would be driven by my heart, not my head.

I'm still gathering some fun ideas for the Bright Livelihood column. I hope I can write a sample column soon and start working out the kinks in that idea. :)

Happy August! Don't swoon in all this humidity, which by this point in the summer is sopping even "desert" like Phoenix. Our dew point was 70 degrees yesterday--yech!

...and the rains came

2005-08-03T17:37:00.000-07:00

Boy, did they. We got 2 inches of rain in two hours last night, and a big ol' rain/windstorm on Sunday that knocked out power for hours.
It's monsoon season in Phoenix, which means that a big nasty thunderstorm marches in from the north or the southeast (yes, all the mountains around here means the weather circulation is a little different) almost every evening.
Mind you, I'm NOT complaining. The t-storms have broken our heat wave, at least for now. Instead of 115 plus everyday, we're at 100 or 105 degrees. It makes a huge difference, even if the humidity is 10 times greater than three weeks ago.
However, the rains coming in on Saturday, and the cloudy day before that, led directly to me getting the mother of all sunburns whilst playing at our friend's pool up in Cave Creek. Unlike our earlier bash up there, we were slovenly about applying sunscreen, due to the clouds and the cooler weather. My legs turned a purplish-red color I have never seen before! WOW. But no blisters. And aloe vera gel got it under control in about two days.
In the writing world, I finished the column for Echo. I took out all the ponderous stuff and left in the humor. It's really hard for me (as the former editor) not to turn every opinion piece I do for them into a sermon.
I'm learning how to get a lot more freelance irons in the fire these days. I'm not there yet, but I'm trying to do enough prep work to send things out that have a chance of acceptance/payment/seeing print, but not laboring over it and wasting time making it "perfect." It's hard. I still have that "gotta getta A" school-leftover syndrome.
Scooter's older daughter (not the new momma) restrung Scooter's Martin guitar on Sunday. She bought some brighter strings and it does sound better. Scooter and daughter sang and played "Marty," easily the favorite guitar of both of them (and they have close to 10 guitars between them); it was fun to watch and sing along.
I have to work on a bunch of computer stuff at home tonight. I've meant to update the blog more than once or twice a week, but judging from some of my other blogging peers, this is the dog days of blogging and no one's updating much.

this old essay

2005-07-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

Writers really should have a show on cable TV along the lines of "This Old House" or some sort of HGTV program. I've come to believe the three most important things a writer can know about are structure, structure, and structure.
I finally wrote my article for my day job at the magazine about second careers. I had followed a couple of pointers that Dave Fryxell makes in his books, including digesting some of the interview notes I had taken by making a "road map" of them. After studying those maps, as well as drafting a map or blueprint (ok, an outline) of the final article, I got down to writing.
I didn't get lost 2/3 of the way through, which seems to be the point at which many a writer's freshly mown meadow lane turns into a twisting trail through the haunted forest. I had to do quite a bit of revising, and rearranged several of the sections, but the final product has a better, and more obvious, shape to it than many of the how-to/service type of articles I've written.
I also did quite a bit of pre-writing work on structure for the Echo humor column I knocked out this evening. It's not perfect, this first draft--in fact, I have a rather large dilemma concerning which direction to take the end of the column--but I have a pretty good idea of the two basic choices I have. Let's hope I take the road less unraveled. Whatever I choose, pre-structuring it has made it easier to retrace my steps and get back on track already.

one more cute baby pic

2005-07-24T16:04:00.000-07:00

Think he likes the car seat? He has a VERY healthy set of lungs, by the way...
He got home from the hospital with no problems! :)
He's adorable. We're still in the "we can watch him sleep" phase...

a child is born

2005-07-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

Scooter's daughter had her baby on Tuesday. His name is Austin. He is gorgeous!

Scooter is shining as a grandma and parent educator. She is in her element, advising, problem-solving, nurturing. I'm blessed to be able to be a part of this.

And Austin liked it when I sang bebop to him--a good sign! I sang the aforementioned "A Child is Born" and "Ornithology."

I'm very proud of my family right now.

a quick trip to music heaven

2005-07-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

Scooter & I have been the cheap-date music queens the past two nights. We had taken a break from our Thursday night jazz haunt, Sacred Grounds Coffeehouse, but returned a few days ago. SG is held in the reception hall of a very progressive UCC church in Scottsdale. They bring in local and national jazz artists, charge people $5 a head to get in, and provide two hours of musical bliss, if you like good-old-fashioned, standards-and-originals, trio/quartet/small group kind of jazz. The show is a two-hour outreach program for the church, but it's entirely secular. The pastor (who usually sits in the back of the hall, notebook computer in his lap, working on his next book) usually says a few words about their Sunday morning experiential arts worship service (which also features jazz), but mostly people come to soak up the jazz. Oh, and the coffee's pretty good, too.
Last night we went to a tiny folk venue that's managed to survive for 18 years in the annex of a Quaker meeting. It's a building that's about 2/3 the size of our apartment. It's open Thursday-Sunday nights, is volunteer run, and features two jams a week, as well as two nights of local acts, as well as the occasional folk/world/etc. musician passing through. It's $3 a head to get in, and the treats and drinks are about a buck.
Last night there was an exceptionally good duo that played Celtic/Gypsy/Greek/Arabic music on guitar, violin and various ethnic instruments, and a local New-Agey sort of singer-songwriter with a soft, hypnotic voice. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Scooter & I have imagined ourselves performing at this microscopic venue, although I think we'll try the jams first. The fire code occupancy limit of the place says 49, but they'd have to be hanging from the rafters to get that many people in there. The stage is about the size of a dinner table, but the closeness of the quarters really does promote a "living room" atmosphere, and makes the all-acoustic rule doable.
Music places that are cheap, have new acts every week, and are non-smoking. That's my idea of heaven (or at least part of it.)

good titles and string cheese

2005-07-13T17:50:00.000-07:00

On the bus today, I came up with the hottest title for an ongoing column I want to write on alternative paths to a career that doesn't feel like a prison sentence: "Bright Livelihood."
That title seemed so hot, in fact, that I just ran to Google to see if 1500 people had had the same idea. They didn't, so if there aren't rampant plagiarists reading my blog, I may have something here.
I realized it was time to start formulating a way to write freelance columns about career stuff--and non-standard career stuff at that--when every article idea I had at work revolved around vocation or second careers or how to tap your alumni connection to network successfully.
If it gets off the ground, Bright Livelihood will tell the stories of people who are doing what they want to do for a living--whether that means finding/creating their dream job, owning their own business or composing some portfolio of business/wage/volunteer jobs that make them outrageously happy. I'm sort of hoping that as a writer, I can tell their stories and provide a trail of breadcrumbs for the rest of us to follow.

***

In other news, I've been floating around the blogosphere a bit more recently and found a blog by a gentleman I used to read regularly during my Echo days. Darrell Grizzle is a gay Episcopalian who is also a Sufi healer and a licensed professional therapist. And a bear (big hairy chubby gay man, for the uninitiated). Definitely my kind of guy.
Anyway, Grizzle has a blog (oh, he writes, too) at wildfaith.blogspot.com called the Blog of the Grateful Bear. Today's entry quotes a great song from a group (presumably "religious" or "spiritual" in some way, I'm guessing) I've never heard of.

Grizzle writes:

"The new CD from The String Cheese Incident ("One Step Closer") opens with a prayer, 'Give Me the Love':

Give me the love I'd have, for all my enemies
Give me the love I'd have, for those I cannot please
Give me the love that knows
all the love there is
Give me the love that knows
all that love can give

That's all I ask of you
That's all I need from you
That's all I ask of you

From the sin that separates, and from the doubts
That have plagued my coming in and going out
May there be a bed of mercy, to lay my anger down
To fill the emptiness, where there is no sound
That's all I ask of you..."

Please give me that Love, indeed. What a blessing.

getting personal

2005-07-10T16:22:00.000-07:00

We are having a Sunday afternoon brunch-feast. Scrambled eggs, decaf coffee, ham, the works. Given that it is past 4 now, this may also be our dinner.
Today has been a lovely example of the Spanish proverb, "How beautiful it is to do nothing, then rest afterwards." Actually, I've been stirring in the house, doing the usual Sunday chores, such as laundry. But I haven't had anywhere to go, and the lure of triple-digit temps is nonexistent, so Scooter and I are enjoying a day of cocooning.
This week, I've been dusting off an idea for writing work that has never seemed to quite die, despite my well-intentioned efforts to forget about it. Five years ago, Scooter & I sent the state 10 bucks to take out a trade name for a personal-history business. We renewed it recently.
Personal historians do the stuff that families used to do themselves in the old days: they interview people (often older adults) for a memoir, video biography, or other written/multimedia product that children/siblings/passers-by can enjoy. The advantage of having a stranger do this for you are that they do all the time-consuming dirty work, they help you edit out the boring parts, and are happy to hear your favorite story, since it's new to them.
I was journaling about the sorts of writing I love to do and I realized the reason I could never quite put this one in the trash bin was my love for helping others understand the essence of a person. It's what I like to do when I profile people, and it's what I look for when I'm picking quotes in a story that reveal character. Usually stories from someone's "real-life" are better than any hypothetical situation you could dream up to make a point.
So we'll see how this goes. I've done a lot of preliminary research beforehand. The trick is educating the people who might really like personal history help that such a thing exists, and is worth paying a professional to do (or help with).
I've also got a round of new query ideas simmering. Some of them play off some previous topics I worked on when I did trade magazines. Every trade mag needs stories about how to run a business, and they can be a lot of fun to customize to a particular industry. More on this later.
Dinner will soon be served. Must run!

hot, hotter, hottest

2005-07-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

It's suck-the-breath-out-of-you hot these days in Phoenix, a special weather condition that requires temperatures of at least 111 degrees and less than 7 percent humidity. It's one of the few times a gentle breeze is less welcome than a dead calm.
It was a three-day week for me at work, which means I was busy (and no blogging entries when I got home at night). Lots of editing of stories for our "stockpile." Which we may be dipping into immediately, since we WILL be putting together a full-length issue in less than half the time we usually get, and putting it under one cover with a special section another unit is doing. At least that's the word for now. We'll see.
I sent off that query earlier in the week to the Hawaiian magazine. We'll see what response we get to that--"can I please write about this fellow you could easily send a local reporter to profile? I'm more interested in him than they are!" Which is true, but as an editor that might at least run through my mind. My guy could go visit them in person, and this girl in Arizona is going to rely on a phone interview. But, it's *her* pitch, so what do I do to not make it look like I "harvested" her idea? (Well, give her the assignment, obviously.)
Before I sent that off, I tried to open a CD of my clips from Echo that had previously made our old computer make bad scary scraping noises when I loaded it in the CD drive. It worked on the new PC, and I downloaded them all--no small feat, since I was at the magazine for 78 issues and I estimate I wrote at least 150 bylined articles for them. Not all of them are things I'd want to pass by an editor as proof of my writing acumen, but there are a variety of topics covered, and the PDFs look pretty nice. It's a major relief--that was a big chunk of my portfolio I couldn't access, except to go down to Echo's library and cart off more copies of "my" issues.
I've got a couple of ideas to play with today (play with stage precedes even research), and Scooter and I have some writing we want to do together. I think it'll be fun.

happy independence day

2005-07-04T17:49:00.000-07:00

Well, just as soon as I said I was going to stay inside, a friend invited Scooter & I up to her house in Cave Creek. She had an awesome pool in the back and had planted strategically placed trees, so there was plenty of shade as we played in the pool all afternoon/evening. Despite the high being like 113 degrees, we had a blast, and not a lick of sunburn for any of us, which is quite miraculous.
Finished the column for Echo yesterday. I need to do some editing, but it's jelling. :)
Gotta go grill--my patriotic duty! :)
Have a great fourth!

book overdose

2005-07-02T12:01:00.000-07:00

Well, it was bound to happen. Scooter and I had some money, so of course we went book shopping.
I found treasures like I couldn't believe. Both of the Dave Fryxell books on structure and research that I currently have checked out of the library (How to Write Fast [While Writing Well] and Structure and Flow) were there, as well as a semi-recent book on research shortcuts (written by a real live librarian, who ought to know), and a narrative nonfiction classic by Tracy Kidder, Soul of a New Machine. Kidder's book traces the creation of personal computers, and since it's narrative nonfiction, I expect it will read like a novel.
It seems odd to get excited about the books written about writing, but they are SOOO helpful right now. I always thought I was pretty good at organizing and structuring my work, but I have needed something to shake me out of my paralysis of analysis about it and try something different. And the research one...I got caught in that canyon between the old-school journalism of visit-the-reference-librarian-and-city-hall for facts, and the kids two and three years behind me who were schooled in how to surf the 'net QUICKLY for facts. I spent a lot of time at Echo fruitlessly Googling and calling it "research," and I want to learn how to use the Web to my advantage.
Also got a book out of the library about blogs and their influence on corporate news media in the new age of "citizen journalism." It's called We the Media. I'll probably report on it later.
Oh, speaking of blogging, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has a good website on Blogger's rights, if any of you get an inkling to publish something inflammatory or controversial. It's at www.eff.org/bloggers/lg/.
The EFF is sort of the civil libertarians of the World Wide Web and other electronic communications media. Very interesting.
Since I'm in Phoenix, I'm sure I'll spend much of my long weekend enjoying the invention of air conditioning. More blogs may emerge! :)

the glories of proofreading

2005-06-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

I've been dragging through a very busy week at work. We're in the final phase of production of this issue of the magazine, which is a quarterly. Lots of proofreading, editing copy (again and again) to fit the design space, and frantically calling for photo credits, double checking factoids, and the like.
We've done pretty well, considering that in terms of workflow, pretty much everything that could happen to push the production train off the rails has happened. The computers wouldn't talk to each other. Everyone had a different version of the page-layout program. The server hated one of our computers, we just couldn't figure out which one.
The good news is we're almost finished with this issue and it looks good. The bad news is that we get to put another issue out in half the time it took to put this one out. It's not that I can't imagine doing that--I've put out larger books every two weeks, and we actually have 6 weeks for the next one--but ironing out all those crazy computer problems will make the difference between meeting our deadlines and not.
I've got an Echo column due by Tuesday. Have the idea, sort of writing it in my head. We'll see if it pours out the way I intend, or if I have to go back to the drawing board and write it out before it gels.

send me into the game, coach

2005-06-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

I'm working with a creativity coach. The writer I mentioned a few days ago, Eric Maisel, trains creativity coaches, and his trainees need people to coach. So I'm getting to get advice from this person, for free.
I'm willing to look into my creative "issues" with someone outside my immediate circle at this point. I get stuck at really predictable points in the writing/marketing/etc. cycle, again and again. I've discovered some of my places that need work through my day job, but feel like I need a little push for those deeper, more long-term goals that seem to elude me, like conceiving and creating a book proposal.
It's free, so I feel like I have nothing to lose. I'm ready to play this "game" at a higher level.

baby's shower

2005-06-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

Scooter's daughter was EXTREMELY pleased with the shower. We were, too. Everything went off without a hitch. Only a few folks in attendance, but we had a great time and laughted a lot.
Well worth a weekend of not much writing. :)

Saturday Adventures with Scooter

2005-06-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

I actually did do some writing yesterday, if cutting-n-pasting most of a query letter for one magazine into another very similar query letter for another magazine can be considered writing. I’m going to send it, despite the fact it’s going to a magazine in Hawaii about profiling a scientist who works there, and I’m in Arizona.
There were quite a few preparations for the baby shower yesterday. My partner (who henceforth shall be known as Scooter, one of her more obscure nicknames) wrapped a million and one small gifts for the baby-boy-to-be. I prepped the cameras and offered moral support. Scooter is currently making cake and topping. I’m drifting in from time to time to take out the trash and wash off the mixer blades after licking them.
We stopped by the local friendly neighborhood homo-bar last night for an hour, and had a surprisingly good time. We had dinner there—it’s one of the few gay bars in Phoenix with decent food—and just sort of hung out and people-watched until the smoke drove us out.
One fellow brought in his baby dachshund. Everybody, including me & Scooter, were making over little 10-week-old Chelsea. I have no idea why anyone would bring their puppy to the bar, but maybe it’s a good way to make conversation—if this fellow had been a lesbian, he could have had the phone number of every woman in the place, ours included.
Back to writing. I’m still stuck on what to write about next. I have an Echo column coming up, not too worried about it yet, although I should start cooking up a topic. I have several other ideas I’m in love with, but no place to take them on a date (i.e., I can’t seem to find a magazine that I feel I could send a query to on that topic). It occurred to me yesterday that if it’s so dang simple for me to write a column, why the heck don’t I focus on selling columns to magazines and newspapers, or *a* column (and self-syndicating it). So far, the reasons I came up with are:

--I hadn’t thought of it that way before.
--I want to write narrative nonfiction, which can be done in a column, but not in your typical 750-800 word one.

So I guess I'll be doing some more muddling whilst we celebrate the baby’s impending arrival.

bus-time reading

2005-06-23T18:51:00.000-07:00

I'm riding to work on the bus, partially because I'm cheap and don't want to pay for a tank of gas every 4 days. (Which tells you it's a mighty commute, because the ol' '96 Camry actually gets pretty good mpg.) So I use that time to read and write in my "writing" journal.
The journal's become just about the only journal I write in. It helps to be a captive audience. If I'm to judge from my fellow riders, the acceptable activities on the Valley Metro buses in Phoenix are to
1. Read a large fiction book
2. Sleep (not a good idea if you're only going a couple of miles, but some people try it)
3. Talk very loudly to other passengers about the shelter they live in, the 12-step program they're working, or their spiritual paradigm (which is not the terminology used)
4. Watch the world go by.

So any way, this journal and these books. Zoning out on the bus is actually an excellent time for me to fish for ideas. I always used to get my best ideas in the shower or on the run, neither of which was especially conducive to capturing the ideas on paper. Bus-riding for inspiration actually works pretty well. I've also actually composed a couple of humor columns for Echo (the magazine I used to edit; it seems everyone who has ever worked there maintains some sort of connection to it) this way.
I've been working my way through Eric Maisel's Deep Writing on the bus over the past week. It's one of his earlier works on the creative process, but brief enough to pick up and put down without losing the thread of meaning, and interesting enough to try and actually follow his suggestions. For an atheist Jew psychotherapist who's written more than 30 books, he actually sounds like a fun person in his books. This book follows five fictional writers (from the angst-ridden chaotic twentysomething novelist to a computer geek avoiding his dissertation) as they move through writing things that matter to them. At first I found the use of fictional characters in an instruction book sort of annoying, but now he's drawn them so well I find myself itching to find out what they do next. I suppose that's the whole point.
I got a couple of books yesterday and today on structure and organization by Dave Fryxell. I need it. For someone with a degree in journalism and as much experience as I have, I can't talk story structure worth crud sometimes. I keep getting mired down in articles where I over-research to the point of having TOO MANY points of view. Anything that helps me focus these things, so that they aren't giant PR omnibus articles that say everything about a subject, and nothing, is good.

The other book I've read consistently on the bus over the last couple of weeks is Lost Woods, a compilation of previously unpublished work by naturalist Rachel Carson. My mother had a copy of Carson's The Sense of Wonder and The Sea Around Us (probably a first edition) when I was little, and I always loved Carson's style and sense of rhythm. Her essays, even ones she wrote fo the US Fish & Wildlife Service, read like poetry, not prose. Simply amazing.

Ok, enough. We'll see what Friday brings; that's usually my day to plot the weekend's reading and writing activity. However, my partner & I are planning her daughter's baby shower this weekend, so I have a feeling my creative efforts will center on videotaping the event and finishing the preparations! :)

more introductions

2005-06-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

I suppose I should talk a little bit about what this blog is about, now that I've decided upon a focus.
All Over the Map is an online journal of my writing life. I've been writing for publication for 22 years. I'm 36; yes, I got started early. I'm currently the managing editor of an alumni magazine for the university in the city where I live, and I'm trying to build up my freelance writing practice.
I've been working on the freelancing part for most of those 22 years I've been writing professionally.
I feel like I'm at a crossroads with my writing. I developed a style very early on that tends to be very witty, but often only surface-level satisfying. I'm sort of burnt out on my own style. I want to take my writing to another level--a deeper, more nuanced level.
My current job has forced me to evaluate my knowledge of nonfiction writing as I've worked with other writers. I feel as if I've learned a lot in the 8.5 months I've been there. However, I still have a long way to go, particularly where structure and storytelling are concerned.
I want to share what I'm doing with my writing, the resources I'm finding helpful, and how my writing life is an integral part of my whole life.
I hope you'll join me for the journey.

welcome to my blog

2005-06-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

I have never done a blog, but I've been writing rambling journal entries for a long time. I write a column for a magazine I edited for three years called "All Over the Map," and like a blog, I pretty much write whatever the hell I want to in it, which is typically rants or humor, or sometimes ranty humor for variety.