After the euphoric first day of my 18-day life in Manhattan, I learned that even in a bonus life, one has to run errands: the drugstore, the ATM, etc. However, doing these mundane things here makes them fresh and new. For one thing, everything was in walking distance. No driving. That alone was staggeringly refreshing. […] Read More

Have embarked on my 18-day life-within-a-life in New York, the one I promised myself as celebration of turning 60 a year and a half ago. I hadn't yet figured out how to work it out (pay for it) and then this marvelous house-sitting arrangement fell in my lap and suddenly I'm here. And it's thrilling. […] Read More

My friend, Christina, knowing I’ll be in Manhattan next week, passed on word of a cool workshop there. I love the idea, and it can be done anywhere: turning your junk mail, your pile, into a piece of art. When you think about it, there’s no end to the forms one’s pile of garbage paper […] Read More

New York has called me and I need to cancel the Get-Published workshop that I announced in my last post. Thanks to those who expressed interest. I’m sorry for any inconvenience. The situation: I got an offer I couldn’t refuse: 2.5 weeks plant-sitting and being a “New York writer” in an apartment on the Upper […] Read More

You’re invited to a Get-Published-in-Today’s-Market Seminar on Saturday, August 14, at my cabin in the woods, south of Chapel Hill, NC. You’ll learn: –How to think about your book or idea – however literary or personal – from a commercial perspective –How to approach an agent (with fiction or nonfiction) –The trends in publishing by […] Read More

It’s been a wild couple of days. At first, seemed as if Mom had had a heart attack. Then it appeared to be an infection in a lung. Then it was definitely a fairly weird situation. I won’t encumber you with the medical details, but some organs had gotten kinda twisted up. And apparently, she […] Read More

“Every thing we do is music and everywhere is the best seat.” — John Cage (discovered on the website of Ranch La Puerta spa in Tecate, Mexico) “He was an early writer of aleatoric music (music where some elements are left to chance),…” http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.commercial-3.2.1.swf Add to del.icio.us - Stumble It! - Subscribe to this feed - Digg it Read More

Today is Tisha B’av, a Jewish fast day dedicated to mourning the various acts that destroy holiness in the world. I learned this from the blog of composer Meira Warshauer. She and I have been friends since we were in first grade. She writes: “Today, for a few more hours, we can feel the sadness […] Read More

Brain research from Israel shows that what works best for taking immediate brave action is to disconnect from the fear and do it anyway. Neuron magazine reports that people watched in an MRI machine could let a live snake closer to their heads if they "dissociated" from the feeling of fear. "Courage is associated with […] Read More

I put my little kayak in the water yesterday and went for the first longish paddle of this year. Tennis elbow has kept me away from it for months. I was waiting for it to be totally healed, then got tired of waiting, and went for a little kayak ride anyway. I’ve used that strategy […] Read More