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WRITING TIME QUESTION: WHAT’S THE POINT?

Writing time is running out? Now you tell me. But I don’t agree, or believe it. My writing time will run out one day, but that doesn’t  let anyone else off the hook. Unless you’re dead. Then maybe.

LIFE LESSONS: FIRST DO NO HARM

Life lessons start early and never stop. But, and this is a tough one, people do look away. “But Blogger D, aren’t older people a repository of life lessons?” Not always, but who am I to judge? If you need to ask, this might not be the place for you.

FART AROUND LIKE KURT VONNEGUT, IT’S GOOD FOR YOU

Fart around like you mean it: Kurt Vonnegut tells his wife he’s going out to buy an envelope: “Oh, she says, well, you’re not a poor man. “You know, why don’t you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet?“ And so I pretend not to hear her.

HOBBY BLOGGER EXPLAINS: WHY BOTHER WRITING?

Hobby blogger here, busy counting vanity metrics. Google analytics reports traffic from Seattle, not so much from Portland. West Coast readers show up more than any other region in the country. Call me a West Coast hobby blogger? I’ll take it, but . . .

RECOMMENDED READING: T.C. BOYLE’S ‘GOING DOWN’

Recommended reading for writers? Common advice is to read everything, whatever that means. Do I read everything? Everything in a bookstore, or library? No, I read for inspiration, I read for cause, and my cause is writing.

END TIMES, OR JUST A BAD DAY?

End Times is a notion that we’re not long for this world. The American History Channel time slot filler called “How The World Ends” includes End Times ideas. It’s pretty bleak, but there’s reason for hope. The people predicting the end of the world all have something in common:

WRITING ROOM: FROM FAMILY ROOM TO SICK ROOM AND BACK

A writing room is any room where writing is done. It’s a bedroom, a classroom, or living room. It could be a bar or coffee house; a bus or train. Some writing rooms belong to writers who need ‘consistency of place’ to be productive. How can you be sure your writing room is right for […]

WRITING LIFE LOOKS FOR SMOKING WRITERS

Do people in the writing life smoke to show they’d rather die than change bad habits? Or maybe they secretly want to lose a few pounds, although Joan Didion may disagree. The writing life? Please. I hear that and think of droopy people sitting around typewriters with a pipe or cigarette stuck in their face. […]

QUARANTINE PARTNER: IF YOU COULD CHOOSE ONE FROM HISTORY

Instead of the quarantine partner you have, or don’t have, choose one person from history to spend the same time with. Some people would be good campers, some not, but one might be just right. Who would it be? Here’s a few:

AUTHOR PHOTOS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS? Pt.2

    Exercise your laser beam eyes?   Nothing says “buy snake oil” either in print or bottle, than an expression that includes laser beam eyes.   This author looks like a button downed English professor forced to read WR121 funnel essays year after year. With that in mind does he have laser beam eyes, […]