I picked out this camel pin (for Husband Bob to give me) just because I liked it. Probably also at the back of my mind was the fact that when I was a kid my mother smoked three packs a day of unfiltered Camels and I have good memories of the image. I also think […] Read More

By popular request (Regular Contributor Debbie Whaley suggested it), I’ve posted here a few of the bold blossoms around my house. They’re bold to peep out because we live in woodland amongst herds of deer and large swathes of shade and voles and other diggers, including something that can only be the Tunneling Yeti. And […] Read More

The hilarious and wise Roy Blount, Jr. writes a don’t-miss column in the Authors Guild Bulletin (he’s president of that group.) His most recent entry is about the economy and writers. It applies to more people than writers. “Look. It was imprudent of us, in the first place, to become authors….For 33 years I have […] Read More

The new puppy arrived at our house yesterday. What does this have to do with bold? Well, Husband Bob is extremely bold to take on this dog. She–Aura–is a sweet soft, though rather large, mastiff puppy now. She’ll become a 140 pound animal, a Boerboel, bred as a guard dog. Already, at about four months […] Read More

When I got to my office today, I discovered that I’d left home the cord that goes between my laptop and the power strip– called a power supply? or battery pack or something like that. And of course the battery in the machine was out of juice. And I had appointments etc. and no time […] Read More

I sat down this morning to start proofreading my novel and wound up making substantial and marvelous changes to the opening. (Some might not call these substantial since the events didn’t change, but I do: the emotion became clearer and stronger.) This reminds me once again: it’s not only our will and resolve and conscious […] Read More

A man whose father left him as a baby decided he wanted to find out about his father and where he’d gone. After decades and networks of research and with the help of some DNA detective work, he learned at the age of 82 what he wanted to know. This story, “DNA Reveals Story of […] Read More

A big piece of the boldness equation is going full-tilt after what draws you, what you care about. Saturday night my dear old friend Susie came to dinner; we had not seen each other in 41 years. Until our mid-teens, we lived one door away from each other, and had played together from my earliest […] Read More

A Newsweek article, “America’s New Shrink“, on Obama said that his model is FDR (we all knew that), who based his New Deal on (here’s the juicy item): faith in “bold, persistent experimentation.” I love the phrase: bold, persistent experimentation. And I too have faith in that method. It’s so often the basis for revising […] Read More

Philip Roth’s birthday was noted on Garrison Keillor’s almanac, and included a choice bit of wisdom that should urge us all to boldness. Note that Roth is the novelist who reached his first fame with Portnoy’s Complaint (1969), about a man obsessed with sex. Roth is quoted as saying: “I cannot and do not live […] Read More