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INSIDE HISTORY? FIND AN INSIDER

How does anyone get the real story inside history? Read books, watch documentaries, tour museums? That’s a good start, and for many an end to the story. But what if you want more because you know there’s more out there?

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

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.

TENDER BAR, A PLACE EVERYONE NEEDS

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.

BLOG WRITER EXPLAINS TRAFFIC BUMP

This blog writer never stops to ask, ‘Why bother,’ when it comes to writing anything. Whether I draw one reader in, or four thousand, the work is the same: Find something worth writing about, then do it in a way worth reading. Some days come in hot.

LONELY PEOPLE: WHERE DO THEY ALL COME FROM

Lonely people come from the same place you come from. How can that be? They didn’t seem lonely. Why would they be lonely? As if you need to ask.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS WINDOW ON BOOMERPDX

Contributing writers on this blog start in comments. I invite people to leave comments. If you have an opinion on a post, leave a comment. When you have more feelings than a comment can hold, think about being a contributing writer. Here’s the deal:

BOOK HOARDING ADVICE FOR BEGINNERS

Book hoarding is not a disease. If that makes you feel better, you might be a librarian. Not a librarian, but still have loads of books? Still not a disease, and here’s why:

BLOG TOOLS: HOW TO ORGANIZE TIME AND SPACE

Blog tools help writers get where they’re going, and as any writer will tell you, they are going to fill up a page. Sometimes it’s a long, long, loooooong haul to fill up one page, then another, then another. Look at a stack of printer paper some time and imagine filling them all. From the […]

AMERICAN WRITERS FROM THERE TO HERE AND BACK AGAIN

Why do American writers, or any writer for that matter, bother putting words down? The easy answer is, “Because they have something to say.” Which brings up another question: What if no one is listening, or reading, or shows even the slightest interest? Is that the writer’s problem? They’re doing the work and it shows. […]

YOUR TRIBE: HAVE YOU FOUND IT, OR STILL LOOKING

Your tribe is waiting and it’s accepting memberships, if that’s the sort of tribe that appeals to you. Or maybe you’re more of a “Membership? We don’t need no stinking membership” sort of person. Either way, the yearning for connection, human connections, isn’t going away. But which tribe is your tribe? A few clues: