Memories

When I was a child my parents wouldn’t let me read science fiction or fantasy. I had to read a friend’s copy of A Wrinkle in Time during lunch and recess. When I was older I walked to the library to read books there. When I was twelve my parents decided it was okay for…

“Never trust a storyteller,” Jonathan Gottschall says in The Story Paradox. There are a number of reasons he says this but primary among them is that we’re always manipulating the story for maximum effect. We think about what details to emphasize and which to downplay. We spend a lot of time deciding which rock will…

Welcome to the Dojo Wisdom for Writers Book Club! Every Wednesday, we meet to discuss one of the lessons in Dojo Wisdom for Writers. We’ll go in order, so it’s easy enough to follow along. Read the lesson, then read the blog post, then comment in the comments! Do feel free to comment on each…

The sound of rain woke me up this morning and for a moment I was about ten years old and I was exultant because rainy summer days were very rare where I lived. On a rainy summer day, I was not required to go outside and play. I could stay inside and read book and…

One of the things I have missed in the pandemic is getting new inputs and having new experiences. These lead to serendipities in my writing (problems solved and new directions taken) and keep me engaged and energized. A few months ago, just emerging from our isolation, my daughter and I went to a harbor-side restaurant…

This is a picture of multiple driveways at an apartment complex in LA. The driveways consist of two paved strips for each unit,  spaced the same width apart as the tires on a car.  I am trying to understand the purpose of a driveway that you have to mow. ???