Veterans’ Day in 1979 started badly and got worse. A partner and I owned a plant and pottery store in a small strip center. My partner created handmade pottery in her home studio, and I managed the store. The day started with the sewer for the whole shopping center backing up in our toilet. As … Read more
Joanna Young at Confident Writing has challenged us to write about My Love Affair with Writing. She said: It might be a love affair that’s lasted many years, a brief flame of passion or the heartbreak of unrequited love. My love affair with writing began nearly a half century ago, but it’s been an on-again, … Read more
I didn’t intend to write a series on magical thinking. I planned just one post on the subject, my entry in What I Learned From People. However, this has been a learning experience all on its own. Because I used words that many people consider positive in a negative context, my message apparently didn’t get … Read more
When I worked for the state employment commission as part of the federal government’s War on Poverty in the 1970s, I encountered some … different, interesting , unusual … characters. Our clients were “hard-core unemployed;” some turned out to be unemployable. The program was a collaboration between several governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations contracted to … Read more
I have been tagged by both Opal Tribble at Addicted to Writing and Misti Sandefur at Life of a Writer for the Roar for Powerful Words meme. The post originating this award at Shameless Lions Writing Circle says recipients are to… … accompany the image with three things they believe are necessary to make writing … Read more
Robert Hruzek’s latest What I Learned From … group writing project is BLOGAPALOOZA! What I Learned From 2007. Rather than posting entries on their own blogs, participants e-mailed them to Robert, and he posted them at Middle Zone Musings. You’ll find a collection of fascinating entries, each featuring one post for every month the participant … Read more
Recently, a client sent me a document to edit that was filled with spelling errors that should have been caught by spell check. I sent my client a note offering to help her new assistant turn on automatic spell checking. A few days later, I was working on a new document for the same client. … Read more
Daily Blog Tips is running a group writing project: 2008 Blogging Goals. I debated about participating because, like Robert at Middle Zone Musings, I have neither the time nor the commitment to do what it takes to increase daily page views, subscribers, or other metrics on my blog. My blog isn’t monetized, and, although I … Read more
As I said in the only other post I’ve ever written about sports, I am not a sports fan. I never intended to write about sports again, but Robert Hruzek at Middle Zone Musings is very persuasive when it comes to getting entries in his What I Learned From … group writing projects. So here’s … Read more
Like most people, I’ve experienced plenty of rejection. Here are a few examples: When I was in college, I was engaged – for a short time – to a guy who told me when one of his buddies saw me for the first time, the buddy said, “That’s the ugliest woman … Read more