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BUSY LIFE IN THE FAST LANE, PASSING LANE, OR . . .

A busy life means making a difference to someone, to something, to somewhere. Take your pick. Pick more than one. What you can’t pick is anyone else’s priorities for their busy life. You can try, but why?

READING FICTION IN DECLINE?

Reading fiction has been in decline since the first person put a book down and said, “Not for me. Thanks.” A reader doesn’t finish every book. They don’t go into a library with the goal of reading everything. Maybe read everything one author ever wrote, but not everything from everyone. Which brings up one question:

QUIET LIFE STARTER KIT

Does a quiet life begin with keeping quiet? If so, how’s it going? Or does it mean something else? Let’s go with something else:

END OF THE LINE . . . “ARE WE THERE YET”

It’s one thing to see the end of line, a whole other to drive past the start in Newport, Oregon. If I have a full tank of gas I hit empty after 460 miles. Eight tanks later, give or take, I’d be in Boston. Might take a week of 500 mile freeway days, or two […]

HIDDEN SONGS OF THE OREGON COAST

People play their guitar in the basement alone looking for hidden songs. Hidden songs? There you are moving around the fretboard and something sounds different. You play it again. Nice. While you play you remember the old times you had when you were younger. Like yesterday.

COLD WET OREGON WITH EXTRA WATER

On a cold wet Oregon day the beach was covered as far as the eye could see, and since it’s flat you can see a long way. Jelly fish, man of war, or whatever it was, it was a mass die-off of squishy critters up and down the beach, a purple carpet of goo to […]

BIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY YOU SAY?

I just finished reading about one man’s dedication and defense of the biographical essay and thought, ‘blog post?’ Like most writers, he lost me in the digressions. Like most online readers, I scrolled on. But here’s what you need to know:

OLD SONG RINGS TRUE TODAY

These are the opening lyrics of an old song, for what it’s worth: There’s something happening hereWhat it is ain’t exactly clearThere’s a man with a gun over thereA-telling me I got to beware   That’s the name of the song, For What It’s Worth. Click the link for the live video.

STORY SHAPE: MORE SAG IN THE MIDDLE?

Story shape and physical fitness have that in common, the middle. From the beginning of ‘good fortune,’ the main character has a few moments until things dip downward. Think of the fanatical diet and exercise demon losing their edge in a Las Vegas buffet and taking off from the high dive into the Mexican, Italian, […]

TAXES PAID, SERVICES DELIVERED, AMERICAN DREAM

You settle back after you close the books on your taxes paid and that new life waiting just around the corner. Those taxes are the money paid to live the American Dream. Who among us thinks of taxes paid every time we get jolted driving over another gaping pothole? “Why do I bother when they […]