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HUMAN POTENTIAL: THE BURDEN OF GREAT EXPECTATIONS

December 19, 2022 by David Gillaspie

Human potential grade from counselor: “You can do anything you want to do.” Human response: “What am I supposed to do with that?” And so begins the journey of great expectations with: “What do you want to be?” I knew what I didn’t want to be early. My dad told me.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: academic achievements, academic counselor, blogger, boomerpdx, Cambridge England, cambridge students, caregiver, elon musk, England, great expectations, human potential, King Charles, potential, reader, students, writer, writing

WORKING HARD IS HARD WORK. WHO KNEW?

December 10, 2022 by David Gillaspie

Working hard used to be a rite of passage. “Start sooner than later and enjoy the rewards longer,” was the message. So hit the grind and go until there’s nothing left to grind, like this cartoon from the New Yorker? Then what?

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: baby boomer, bernedoodle, blogger, boomerpdx, caregiver, hard work, heroic caregiver, Oregon, Portland, Portland Oregon, registered reality, sandwich generation, Second Act, teammate, theater, third act, void, working, working hard, write, writer, writing day

PERSONAL MEMOIR, NOT THE OTHER KIND

December 9, 2022 by David Gillaspie

Personal memoir says, “Too few people take the time to explore themselves thoroughly.” Unless you’re married. Then it’s too little exploring, too much exploring, what’s with all this exploring, what are you, a narcissist? Funny you’d ask.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: audience, baby boomer, bending time, blogger, BOOMER, boomerpdx, embarrassing, fiction, memoir, narcissist, personal memoir, puzzle, satisfied, stumbling block, time, writer, writer's puzzle, writing

AMATEUR CRIME LIFE WITH PEER PRESSURE

November 22, 2022 by David Gillaspie

My life in amateur crime began in 5th grade. If you were going to hang with the cool kids, you had to show you belonged. One test was shoplifting at the local Payless. It was an anchor store at Pony Village, the biggest shopping mall on the west coast between Seattle and San Francisco right […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: black sheep, blogger, boomerpdx, confession, crime, crime life, mall rat, parents, payless, peer pressure, pony village, shoplifter, shoplifting, thief, tight family, writer, writing

LIVING LIFE TO DIE? THANKS RILKE

November 20, 2022 by David Gillaspie

This is the guy living life past my bathroom window in Cannon Beach, Oregon. A man playing slide guitar in a slick suit felt like a Coen brothers break from reality. Since I like listening to slide guitar, I also saw him as an omen for good things in the future. That’s how that works. […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: better writer, blogger, boomerpdx, bros, coen brothers, Death, empathy, goals, learning, life, living life, omen, rilke, slide guitar, story, story momentum, suffering, writer

HOBBY BLOGGER EXPLAINS: WHY BOTHER WRITING?

November 6, 2022 by David Gillaspie

Hobby blogger here, busy counting vanity metrics. Google analytics reports traffic from Seattle, not so much from Portland. West Coast readers show up more than any other region in the country. Call me a West Coast hobby blogger? I’ll take it, but . . .

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: blogger, boomer blogger, boomerpdx, hobby, hobby blogger, improvement, inspiration, Kurt Vonnegut, literary structure, movie structure, Oregon, Portland, Seattle, story structure, west coast, write, writer, writing, writing room, writing space

RECOMMENDED READING: T.C. BOYLE’S ‘GOING DOWN’

October 29, 2022 by David Gillaspie

Recommended reading for writers? Common advice is to read everything, whatever that means. Do I read everything? Everything in a bookstore, or library? No, I read for inspiration, I read for cause, and my cause is writing.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: blogger, book, books, boomerpdx, common advice, education, experienced teacher, inspire, Kilgore trout, Kurt Vonnegut, read everything, reading, reading books, recommended reading, TC Boyle, teacher, twitter, writer, writers, writing

INSPIRE CHANGE WITH DEEDS AND WORDS

October 28, 2022 by David Gillaspie

“Inspire change” are not just pretty words to say. You can say it, write it, but there’s more: Show it. Remember the writer’s trope of, ‘Show, don’t tell?’ Do both to inspire change.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Berlin wall, blogger, boomerpdx, change, education, educational, educational moment, good deeds, historical education, inspire, inspire change, Portland, Portland Oregon, Soviet Union, vote, writer, writers trope

TENDER BAR, A PLACE EVERYONE NEEDS

October 27, 2022 by David Gillaspie

The Tender Bar is a book, a memoir, and a movie. A book and a movie, for the deuce. But it’s more than a book or a movie, it’s a destination I stopped in for a drink yesterday, but it was the wrong bar.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: Ben Affleck, blogger, book, boomerpdx, coming of age, father figure, George Clooney, long island, movie, tender bar, the tender bar, writer, writers, writing

WRITING REMINDERS: FIRST, BE STRONG

September 28, 2022 by David Gillaspie

Writing reminders are like the list for the grocery store. Or the infamous ‘Honey Do’ list. Check off the important things after you get them done. These are the important things:

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: blogger, boomerpdx, david, good story, health, illness, manly man, mentors, newsbreak, Portland, reminders, sarcasm, skip college, travel, writer, writer dreams, writer's voice, writing, writing classes, writing mentor, writing reminders