page contents Google

BOOMERPDX BLOG APPRECIATION SUNDAY

July 12, 2026 by 2 Comments

On this blog appreciation Sunday I high five Thomas Wolfe for good luck. Again. The wife and I found him at home in Asheville, North Carolina. We parked the car, got something out of the trunk, and spent a few hours in the museum and the Old Kentucky Home around the block. We came back […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

HOW TO WRITE, WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT

January 2, 2026 by

How to write seems self-explanatory. Why bother is the real question. My Grandma on my Mom’s side passed this pearl of wisdom along: “Smart people talk about ideas, normal people talk about places, dumb people talk about other people.” With that mind, who are the big gossips in your group?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

HOMETOWN WRITERS MISS THE BOAT?

June 22, 2023 by

Hometown writers miss the boat when they think everything’s been said about where they grew up. Then, to save their careers the turn their focus to their hometown. More like they use a sense of home to lure readers in. Like Thomas Wolfe.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

DISAPPOINTED WRITER? AREN’T THEY ALL

January 12, 2023 by

The disappointed writer hides their feelings in their work. If it’s not their subject, it’s their characters; if it’s not the setting, it’s the theme. The disappointed writer always falls back to their comfort zone. Instead of man vs nature, or man vs society, it’s one whiney writer vs themselves.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

DIE WRITING, OR DIE TRYING?

January 9, 2022 by

Who wants to die writing? A yes answer means one thing: Death is a metaphor. Unless it’s s sudden death and they keel over on their keyboard, no writer dies writing. But something does die in a writer who does everything they can to succeed before giving up. Who’s ever done that? One comes to […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

HEMINGWAY LIFE STORY BEST OF ALL TIME

April 7, 2021 by

The Hemingway life story by Ken Burns is a sure sign, but of what? That he grew up in what amounts to a fundamentalist family? With a mother that logged all of her sacrifices for him? Then held it against him? Add a father with well defined ideas on how to behave. And Ernest disappointed […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Today Is A Special Day For Someone, What’s Your Day Like

July 12, 2018 by

  Coaches have had a grand time reminding their athletes that, “There’s someone somewhere training just as hard as you. Time to step it up.”   They say this right after you’ve had a special day of success so you won’t let it go to your head too fast.   Or, “Someone is training harder […]

Filed Under: BOOMER YEARS Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

AUTHOR PHOTOS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS? Pt.2

March 17, 2018 by

    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, […]

Filed Under: BOOMER YEARS Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Life Plan? What To Do When Life Moves On

September 12, 2017 by

If I read a book I turn the page. That’s how it works with book reading. Turn the page, then another and another until there’s no more pages.   Call that story a page turner.   A life plan when life moves on without you feels the same. Maybe you didn’t turn the page, but […]

Filed Under: BOOMER BLOGGER Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

FAMILY COLLECTIONS OVERLOAD? OFFERUP

August 22, 2017 by

    Where is the line between family collections and hoarding? How can you tell when you’re over that line, way over?   In this well researched post on BoomerPdx I will dip into the experience of a Museum Collection Manager for an interview. Readers familiar with such details will automatically know what I’m talking […]

Filed Under: BOOMER BLOGGER Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,