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WRITER LIFE CHRISTMAS WHEN IT’S NOT ABOUT WRITING OR LIFE

Does ‘writer life’ mean writing about life, or the experience of someone who writes? Answer silently while you write about a life of writing. Writer’s Life? Mine began as a small child at my Grandma’s house. She handed me a book.

TRAVEL OREGON STARTS WITH TWO BOOKS

Travel Oregon the right way? If you live here you know the drill: Fill up the gas tank, or unplug the battery, and head for the big north to south roads. Take in the coast on Hwy 101. Head out on I-5 for the Willamette Valley sights. Or aim your ride over the the mountains […]

LEARNING CURVE? FIND TREASURES AND READ

A learning curve is not an excuse. I’ll repeat it, a learning curve doesn’t mean you’re stupid. There’s room in class for another learner. If it’s something new, you may feel a little stupid working it out, but that’s just navigating the curve. Give it a few minutes and you’ll be an expert. How? Read […]

HISTORICAL ADVICE: THIS IS WORTH SOMETHING, ISN’T IT

Historical advice usually comes from a book, or a class where some gray bearded funky old man in a musty suit jacket rambles on and on in a cloud of dandruff. Doing history is different than studying history. History museums Do History for everyone else. Museum visitors walk from exhibit to exhibit, floor to floor, […]

WHAT READERS DO? READERS GONNA READ, READ, READ

Real readers handle books different than than rest of us. Who is that real reader? I watched a librarian friend pick up a book and go through the process. From contents to index, then everything in between, he handled the book like a pro. He was a pro, but what about the rest of us?

BOOK HISTORY: LIVE IT THEN WRITE IT

Book history could be about the printing press, except books existed before the printing press. Just not as many, and not all in Europe.

WRITE A BOOK, IT’LL BE FUN, UNTIL IT’S NOT

Fans, followers, and one-timers on boomerpdx have seen my book writing posts. It’s not exactly how-to-write stuff, but it helps show process. One nice piece of advice I’ve heard: You’d better love your book topic, because you’ll eventually hate it. Since my book is a guided tour of what to expect after a cancer diagnosis, […]

BOOK NOTES: AN UNCOMFORTABLE TASK BUT SOMEONE’S GOT TO DO IT

What struck me when I started writing book notes were the words from who knows where I found them, but here they are, “You’d better love the the book topic because at some point you’re going to hate it.” And it’s true, except I sort of hated it from the start since my book notes […]

WHY WRITING? WHY WRITE A CANCER BOOK?

This is gonna be short because I’m writing a cancer book. See what I did there? Didn’t say writing ‘my cancer’ book. Cancer book is more than enough. The whole ‘my cancer’ talk is a bad track. Who really wants to claim it like that. Instead, I’m giving it a good thrashing, plowing the cancer […]

THE BOOK OF YOU THIS TIME

Who can predict the future? There’s no book that tells the tale. If you know someone who says they can predict the future, feel free to ignore them. This blog doesn’t come from the future, it’s right now. Maybe a little history of days past mixed in, but it always circles back to today. Now. […]