Every project plan starts with an idea, a glimmer of light shining in the darkness. It either has a flashing moment of recognition before fading to the places, or finds life on a list of things to do. A ‘To Do’ list, and ‘Action List’, an ‘Order of Operations List.’ This is when an idea […]
CANCER MEMORIES: UNEXPECTED MOMENTS OF LOVE AND KINDNESS
January 13, 2020 by
I made a list of cancer memories to use in my memoir. Not all of them made the cut. A book needs the big stuff; these are the smaller cancer memories:
NEW BLOG QUESTION ON TWITTER, SO I ANSWERED
December 8, 2019 by
During a cruise through the twitterverse, one interesting question appeared, the question of starting a new blog. The query seemed sincere, so I responded with this: use WordPress, genesis framework, and a mobile-ready Studiopress theme, along with yoast seo. Now you’re ready to launch. It turned into a useful conversation with a writer in what […]
HONEST MEMOIR? WHAT OTHER KIND OF MEMOIR IS THERE
October 24, 2019 by
The guy in the picture is a fellow neck cancer guy, Union General U. S. Grant. He’s also a fellow memoir writer, but was it an honest memoir? Not if he didn’t talk about neck cancer. If it lands on a writer’s neck, wouldn’t it be worth writing about? Like every writer, it was his […]
MEMOIR REMINDER: ALL ABOUT YOU BUT STARTS WITH ME
April 24, 2019 by
My story, your story, one story What’s a memoir reminder? Just that the book called a memoir isn’t a biography, auto-biography, or a novel. None of that, not for a memoir. It’s all about keeping time and not flying all over the place in a random, scattershot, manner. An example of where it starts and […]
WHY WRITING? WHY WRITE A CANCER BOOK?
March 17, 2019 by
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 […]
AMAZON SEARCH FOR BITTER, ANGRY, PROFANE MEMOIR
December 28, 2018 by
Amazon search is easy, like google, except you can buy the search results right away. Not so much on google prime. I’m not searching as much as researching the competition during editing breaks of my cancer memoir in the works, and happy to find great books on the topic, though not too many […]
GILLASPIE LOVESEAT TO HONOR AMERICA. IT’S FRAGILE
June 17, 2018 by
Who hasn’t been accused of making last minute presents? My specialty is carving names in oak with a router. It takes practice, at least more than a last minute panic to produce something meaningful on Christmas morning. I’ve been the object of such accusations, and while correct, there is a bigger […]
WRITER EVIDENCE IN THE HOUSE OF BOOMERPDX
May 3, 2018 by
A hard rule among writers: avoid talking about a writing project. So what do writers talk about in writer meetings? Last night while attending a Willamette Writers meeting I saw writer evidence all over the place across a crowded room. I scanned the crowd from a plush chair inside Tabor Space on […]
WRITER TRAINING: PACK HEAVY FOR #writertraining
December 24, 2017 by
Writer training is more than a classroom, more than paper and pencil, fingers and keyboard, more than listening. It is sweating and struggling and wishing you’d made a different choice. Not about being a writer, but about those damn books. The importance of jamming writing books into a heavy duty backpack, heavy […]
