The phrase “dumpster fire” seems to have been invented purely for the year 2020. With the year’s passing, most of us are looking with sad puppy-dog eyes at 2021, hoping for a smidgeon of mercy. A modicum of normalcy. An ounce of civility. And a big ol’ dollop of hope. But, of course, we all […]
Art and Smiles in a Quarantined World
I saw one of my favorite bands perform live today. Well, “live” in the sense that at the same time I was watching them online, they were playing together. Well, “playing together” in the sense that although each was playing an instrument alone in their own home, they somehow managed to sync up with each […]
How Can Unique Lives Be So Universal?
There was a mountain lion in our neighborhood a week ago, and apparently she was in heat. Yeah, that’s a sentence I never dreamed I would type. But now that I live in Colorado, I find that many of my conversations involve animals I have, until recently, most often encountered on TV. We’re only 45 […]
10 Tips for Working at Home
This pandemic has created a new army of at-home-workers, most of whom didn’t choose or want this new experience of working from home. But many of us have been doing this for years. We’ve tried (and abandoned) a bunch of tricks over the years for staying focused on work. If you’re one of the new […]
Write Like an Artist
Last month, I was a speaker at the League of Utah Writers annual Quills Writing Conference in Salt Lake City. I moved to Colorado in May, but I guess they still like me in Utah, because they haven’t revoked my membership yet. So it was fun and motivating to see old writing friends and make […]
Goal + Fear = Conflict
So there’s this guy. He’s tall. Bit of a loner. Okay, a lot of a loner, even when he’s with people. I know what he drives. I know what he drinks. I know he’s getting mixed up with a woman who may not be who she says she is. But I don’t know what makes […]