Just got my every-six-weeks-or-so trim and it made me think of the hesitation many of us have about making radical recreational hair changes. For decades, I had long straight hair. It was a sort of signature. After a couple of years thinking about it, I got it cut to chin-length; and this was before advancing […] Read More

Bold self-expression can be even more satisfying when you’re able to make a living at it: that way you can do it full-time, and get it out into the world. Jackie Battenfield is an expert on how visual artists can do that. Writers and other artists can learn from her as well; I’ve attended a […] Read More

I just made a daring offer to an eminent institution of higher learning. I won’t burden you with the details just now. But I’m feeling very pleased with my ingenuity, resourcefulness, and daring. There’s satisfaction in coming up with and presenting a bold idea, whether it works out or not. I remember when I was […] Read More

From the Daily Om, “Tied in Knots“: “We don’t have to tie ourselves in knots. Instead, we can let the ribbons of our energy unfurl to gracefully direct us….” I think that probably means: go swimming. Which I did in the ocean at Wrightsville Beach, NC, on Saturday. Bright sun, low tide with big waves […] Read More

Self-employment is supposed to offer the advantage of setting one’s own hours. In practice, most of us work a lot more hours than we would on a job. This morning, however, I went hog-wild; stayed home and picked up around the house and did a summer’s worth of ironing, etc. You might not view that […] Read More

This is a rerun of a guest post I did a while back for Mystic-Lit: Writing or practice of any art form—or, for that matter, any kind of problem-solving—relies heavily on one intermediate skill: Greasing the Elements. I realized this while doing the Word Jumbles in my local News & Observer. As you probably know, […] Read More

“Just Do It” is a popular piece of advice (as well as a great advertising catch phrase.) And it has value. It can cut through a lot of inner garbage and unnecessary preliminary hurdles. It’s also true that saying “just” does not make a difficult thing into “a snap” that takes no time or effort […] Read More

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As any writer of fiction knows, a moment can look radically different from each different point of view. Here’s my little-rubber-kayak level point of view of a “flat” lake. Big paddle. Tiny sailboat. Significant-sized waves. I like this particular viewpoint very much. But any time the view’s not good, we likely have some option to […] Read More