Category: Work

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Waiting for my inspiration to show up

“Inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy.” ~ Pyotr Tchaikovsky I think most writers looking for inspiration have thought, at one time or another, that there is a mysterious power, a sixth...

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Patience, grasshopper…*

I used to work with a woman who’s favorite saying was,“Never pray for patience because you’re just asking to be tested.” The older I got, the more I understood what she meant, which was, the...

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Remembering Erma Bombeck

(Erma Bombeck, February 21, 1927 – April 22, 1996) Hiking into the hills with my dog Buddy gives me a chance to empty my mind of worries and focus more on things like who...

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Rejecting rejection

I recently entered a writing competition in which I thought I might have a fair chance of at least getting a small recognition.  I didn’t actually think I would win the whole enchilada, but I hoped that...

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Finding your own voice

(Martha Graham)  “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression...

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Just be who you are!

    Back in 2007, the New York Times hired me as a freelance writer to cover the resignation of staunch Republican Idaho senator Larry Craig, who had been arrested in a Minnesota men’s...

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Letting the universe work for us

Have you ever had the amazing experience of everything falling into place, unexpectedly, just the way it was supposed to? When it happens, we are filled with gratefulness. Because we never know when we’ll...

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Building a story? It’s like laying beautiful stones

(photo credit) If you visit this blog at all you know I’ve been absent for a while. I took several weeks off from blogging to turn my attention to creating something totally different –...

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Bird by Bird…

(source)  What is your day like as a writer? Some writers get up at Oh-dark-thirty, grab a cuppa’ Joe and sit in front of their computer screen or notepad and write for hours –...

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Hitting the bottom of the inspirational well

There are times when the well of creativity seems to dry up and, as hard as you try, you don’t know how to get it all kick started again. You search for advice on...

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Puppies, mentors and learning from others

I recently dog-sat my sister’s new puppy, a high energy, hard- headed, assertive little herding dog who is adorable but misdirected. At only a couple months old, he had not spent any significant time...

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The enduring power of the written word

The written word is really a miracle. Except for some style and grammatical changes over the generations, it remains constant and allows us to carry knowledge, thoughts and history through time. Speech is limited, and memories of the mind only last so long. But through the written word, we can preserve information and ideas, and share them for all time.

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What’s a Real Writer? Is it me? Is it you?

When I was a kid I used to say that I wanted to be a “real writer.” A real writer, to me, wrote books and films and then someone would publish their work and...

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Keeping Butt In Chair

  (graphic from) I think all writers have gone through times when we’ve wondered, “What the hell am I doing? I can’t seem to string more than a few words together and even they...

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25 things writers should stop doing

Today as I was jotting down thoughts for a New Year’s blog about some of the things we writers (me especially!) need to stop doing this year, and other things we might start trying...