Note: For Context on today's post check out Confessions of a Ghost When something ends, the tendency is to think back to the beginning, to follow all the steps that brought you to failure, to wonder which were missteps, how you could have done better, how your instincts could have been so wrong. I've been second... Continue Reading →
My Life as a Fairy Tale Character
As soon as I heard that there might be a castle tour organized in conjunction with the 2017 Wrint Excuses Retreat, I knew I had no choice but to go. When else was I going to get the opportunity to travel the German countryside visiting CASTLES in the company of some of my most favorite... Continue Reading →
Tales From the Baltic: Part Three
This year's curriculum on the Writing Excuses felt custom tailored to the problems I've been experiencing in my writing lately. I've been procrastinating badly: Emma Newman talked about Fear and Writing and how procrastination is generally underpinned by fear. I spent a lot of the cruise thinking about my fears and the forms they take... Continue Reading →
Tales From the Baltic: Part Two
I crouch as low as I can without sitting on the rain-slick ground, photographing cobblestones and parquet floors. I lie flat on my back in a flagstone courtyard trying to capture the majesty of a tower. I stretch my arms above my head and stand on tiptoes: how else can a capture the sheer scale... Continue Reading →
Tales From the Baltic: Part One
We start with fear. Fear of missing the flight. Fear of being stopped at customs and being sent back to the states (Why? I don't know, but my fear can always think of a reason. Maybe it's the bag of airport trailmix I forgot to throw out. Maybe my doppleganger has been muck raking in... Continue Reading →
Retreat
The words come in fits and starts. Some days I manage a paragraph, others a page or two, but it seems the days of writing 2000 words or more a day are gone, lost in the grind of work, music, personal drama. I know they aren't gone, those magical days where the words come and... Continue Reading →
Not Going Back
Yesterday, Facebook reminded me of a post I wrote two years ago about my struggle to accept the fact that I dropped out of college. Today, I'd like to share why I've decided not to go back. I've touched on this a little in a post called Going Back, but I've done a lot of... Continue Reading →
What? I Have a Blog? That’s Neat.
Sooooooo... It's been a while. How is everyone? Good? Good. Last time I wrote, I wasn't in the best frame of mind, and I realize now that maybe waiting three months to write a follow-up isn't the best way to go. I'm doing better now. The existential angst isn't as crushing as it was, I think... Continue Reading →
I’m Out of Excuses, Part Two
Note: Previously, I described the events leading up to the start of the Writing Excuses Retreat 2016. For those of you who are behind the times, you can catch up here. And now... Words are hard to find, sometimes. The flit through my mind, sometimes landing for a moment, resting. I'll mull them over, consider... Continue Reading →
I’m Out of Excuses, Part One
Over the next few days, I'll recount my experiences before, during, and after the Writing Excuses Retreat on board the Royal Carribean Oasis of the Seas. I'll begin with the flight south. September 16th I look into the eyes of the Man in the Moon. I wonder if he's looking back at me. I've never... Continue Reading →