I’ve never been a great organizer. Organization doesn’t come easy to me. I’m a dreamer with lofty goals, stellar purposes. When it comes to putting plans into action, I’m an excellent starter. I’m also a persistent person with the ability to carry through to the finish line. Organizing a project, however, has been known […]
At the risk of alienating those who deny the existence of God or those who just have serious doubts about the existence of a being who created all of this, I’m nonetheless doing this piece about spirituality. I respect those who don’t agree with my views on religion. I’d better, considering my own set […]
The world’s first novel was not The Handmaid’s Tale. Nor was it Tom Sawyer. No, it wasn’t Don Quixote. Generally considered to be the first was The Tale of Genji, penned by a Japanese noblewoman named Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century. That was 1000 years ago! It was over 400 years until the first novel in English would be […]
To begin, I want to point out I am using a wide definition when referring to the arts here, including writing, music, visual arts, performance, culinary and more. Whatever you do that involves the creative process qualifies in my world. To be deeply engaged in the arts is a labor of love. Being rich […]
Considering the foolish mistakes and wrong turns I’ve made in my years, I feel I’ve lived a rather charmed life. Far more has gone right than wrong, I’ve learned many lessons along the way and the losses have usually been few and far between. This year, 2017, has been the exception. In this one […]
To truly connect with your readers, your writing has to be honest and from the depths of your being. Sweep aside that surface emotional drivel. Dig beneath the glib intellectualism meant to make you sound clever. Root out the core of your subject that picks up your pulse, makes you feel gritty or makes you […]
I believe everyone has felt it–the trepidation of some crisis in the moment or on the horizon that must be confronted. Walking into certain battle is one moment of truth that none of us should ever have to face, being in the position of having to kill other human beings or be killed. In […]
Who out there knows someone who is living a full, flourishing life that is characterized by its simplicity? You know, the stay-at-home mom who maintains a chaotic home with a couple children and a busy husband? Or that self-employed contractor that runs all over the county promoting and operating his business from dawn to dusk? […]
You’ve probably heard the term. It commonly describes the music with which a person identifies as running parallel to their lives. The music heard the most over the years or that which simply meant the most can be thought of as a soundtrack accompanying a lifetime. The songs often attributed to be representative of […]
I was at a hospital recently on business. I noticed a rack of books in a window of their gift shop. I stopped and saw a sign on the rack that indicated there were inspirational books there. Since my recently published novel, Boundless Trust, falls within the inspirational genre, I thought it might be […]