The shortest day of the year has come and gone, yet outside my window rain still falls. Whether it’s snow or cold or drizzle, winter has a way of keeping us inside for a season. Why does nature require this fallow time? Why can’t the sun shine and the air blow warm on bare skin…
Month: December 2010
At Rainbow’s End
If you squint and look closely you’ll see a rainbow arching behind Portland’s Hawthorne Bridge in this photo. It blazed across the sky after one of those December deluges that leaves your pants soaked to the knees–even though you’re carrying an umbrella which has probably turned inside out anyway. Rainbows are like finished stories. You’ve…
A Perfect Time for Book Buying
One of my favorite bookish quotes comes from Erasmus: “When I have a little money, I buy books; and if any is left over, I buy food and clothes.” At this time of year, I like to remind everyone who writes that books and magazines make perfect gifts for everyone. And if those of us…
Chai and Chi
One of the most interesting parts of working in cafés is the opportunity to overhear conversations. This afternoon, the background “music” for my pot of eggnog chai (total yum!) was a Portlander who was fretting over how badly his “chi” was affecting his ability to grow his business. If he could just get his chi…
Writing Practice
I’m reading more Natalie Goldberg: Thunder and Lightning: Cracking Open the Writer’s Craft. Thinking about what Goldberg writes reminds me of something Sandy Asher said at Chautauqua last year. If you want to make money as a writer, “Do one thing, do it well, do it over and over again”. Natalie seems to have found her…
Highlights and Me
I’ve met many a writer who first broke into print by publishing a story or an article or a craft or a recipe in Highlights for Children. I was not one of them. It was not for lack of trying. I sent many a tale across the desks of the likes of Christine French Clark…
Bespectacled & Bookish 