Writing Retreat

Through planning and packing for a group beach holiday, Gale was both large-and-in-charge and a nelly nervous wreck.  Even in the overstuffed minivan, out of the driveway and on the interstate, she remained anxiously edgy until our gang was far enough away to make it completely idiotic to turn back. However, like the eye of…

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Catching Creativity

“Oh, have you got the crud that’s going around?” she asked a writer-friend while fearlessly hugging her. I cringed; I’d just hugged her and hadn’t noticed her having any flu symptoms.  I closely watched the interaction and told myself that she was tired, and yes, stuffy, but no, not the creeping crud.  Not submitting to…

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Baby Present

So here I am…a man who never had younger siblings, a man without a child, a man who’s never changed a diaper and gets paranoid around babies…and I’m having lunch with a dear friend and meeting her five-month old son.  I said the standard things — “he’s so cute,” “what a good baby,” “are you…

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A Blunt Object To Ease Self Doubt

Accepting her Golden Globe statuette for her performance in “Les Misérables,” Anne Hathaway humbly thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association “for this lovely blunt object, that I will forever use as a weapon against my self-doubt.”  A humble admission of her truth from this graceful, poised movie star. As writers, we are just like Hathaway…

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