Monthly Archives: January 2015

Don’t just sit there. Get up and write!

January 23, 2015

 

winter hike

I have trouble sitting still. By the time I finish my breakfast, I’ve gotten up from the table at least three times. When I’m trying to sit still and listen, I fidget. I often don’t notice until someone points it out. It doesn’t bother me. Our bodies want to move. Moving helps us think and gives us energy rather than depleting us, like sitting.

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The Fake It Till You Make It School of Writing

January 16, 2015

Writer?

 

 

 

 

It took me a long time to respond “writer” when people asked what I did for a living. I had to force myself to use that label, even though I had only a few pieces of work “out there” and no paid writing gigs. It felt strange, unnatural, boastful. Most of us are not conditioned to self-promotion. “It’s not nice to brag” is a common message we receive through childhood. So that was a hurdle I eventually had to overcome. Here’s where the expression “fake it till you make it” helped a lot! Continue reading

A Poem: The Man at the Sally Ann

January 10, 2015
The old Princess Theatre on Gore Street

The old Princess Theatre on Gore Street

I don’t write poems very often, but I like this one, so I thought I’d share it. 

There was this man with a rubber hand who fixed toasters
and coffee makers at the Sally Ann
on Gore Street in my hometown.
I never met him, but I’d walk past him,
him and those awful kids’ corduroys and fire engine red sweaters
and bridal gowns from other-side-of-the-tracks weddings,
on my way to parades or Saturday matinees,
and always, on my way to these parades or Saturday matinees,
I’d want to ask him,
as I skipped and whistled past him,
How hard is it to fix a toaster when you’ve got a rubber hand?

Take a Zen approach to speechwriting

January 1, 2015
Take a few deep breaths and then start writing!

Take a few deep breaths and then start writing!

Whether it’s for work, a wedding, or accepting an award (lucky you!), writing a speech can be nerve-racking. Listeners decide within one to two minutes, max, if they’re going to stick with you or drift off into their own thoughts. No one wants to see their audience dozing off or checking their smart phones.

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