In junior high I was pulled out of several normal classes and put into L.D. L.D. stood for “learning disability.” (Seriously, that’s what they called it!) I was not a permanent resident like some students, but it was enough of an embarrassment to add to the already constant bullying I received during those years. Somewhere […]

I slept in this morning. I looked at the clock around 4:30 and thought, “Up now, or another hour of sleep?” I opted for another hour. I did the same thing at 5:30. (I like getting up between 5:00 and 5:30 to write on days I work from home.) When I got out of bed […]

I work for a large software company. Recently, email was sent out that we could take “creativity” courses through one of our training sites. I went to check out one of the classes. I took the pre-test, a 4-question quiz to test how “creative” we already are. I missed half of them. Apparently I’m not […]

Last night the Chicago Cubs won the World Series. I was born less than three miles from Wrigley Field. The north side of Chicago is Cubs territory, through and through. Even people who don’t particularly like sports on the north side (yes, a handful of people like that do exist), still believed that every year […]

I finished a story for the next episode of Not About Lumberjacks on Wednesday. My wife read it yesterday and came back to the office to tell me she finished it. She liked it quite a bit, which is always good. (Especially because I wasn’t sure how this one would sit with her.) And then […]

We all have our seasons. For me, there’s something about the time from September and all the way into April that is wonderful. Specifically, though, the next three months are usually my best writing months. Mornings are dark, meaning quiet time as people sleep longer and the world stays hushed just a little longer than […]

We will see more 100-degree days in Texas, no matter how many people say, “The hot weather’s done for the year!” while looking at thermometers reading 97 degrees. But it is that time of year when things seem to change. I suppose the biggest change for me is, after four years with the big department […]

The short story I mentioned in the last entry? You can listen to it right here (or click on the image at the end of this post for a 20-second sample). (It’s about a woman who lands her dream job as a writer, but gets much more than she bargained for in the form of […]

I recently wrote about writers writing about writers. In an earlier draft of the entry, I mentioned a guy in several college classes I was in. He never actually wrote anything (as much as any of us could tell), but he talked about writing a lot. He rolled his own cigarettes, carried around a copy […]

I sometimes feel like I begin too many entries, here, with, “So I was listening to Jess Walter and Sherman Alexie on the Tiny Sense of Accomplishment podcast…” But it’s that good! In the most recent episode, Sherman and Jess talk about writers and lying. Some quotes from that section: I make stuff up at […]