A few weeks ago, my artist friend, Lynne Baur, commented that she could help me learn to draw after I mentioned that I’d love to do an illustrated book but have no artistic talent whatsoever. (She said, and I quote, “You shouldn’t take ‘can’t draw’ as an obstacle to an illustrated book.”) For a sample…

So you know that I have been trying very hard to learn how to relax, which isn’t easy WHEN THE FATE OF THE FREE WORLD DEPENDS ON YOU, or at least, you know, someone has to buy the groceries around here. It is a curious fact of my life how often these two things feel…

(An update to my annual Thanksgiving post) I love Thanksgiving, which I think is the most underrated holiday in the year. It got eaten by Christmas about twenty years ago, so people are already stressed about what’s going to go under the tree when they haven’t even had their annual allotment of pumpkin pie yet. I…

Jess and I were recently on vacation, and I had no inclination to do any work. I didn’t bring my laptop, and my phone wasn’t working right so I couldn’t even check emails, so PERFECT. One rainy afternoon we stopped in at a beachside cafe to let the storm pass. Jess was watching everyone inside…

There was a time when all the editors I worked with knew I was a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and so they were all slightly afraid of me. I miss those days. ### My collection of travel stories, Travels with Jessica, is now available! Kindle and paperback here; other ebook formats here. And…

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…