Before reading this post I recommend you read yesterday's post "Leaving". Three weeks ago I returned to Smith College for the first time in three years. Leading up to the trip, I was nervous. I had butterflies in my stomach for about a week. At night I had stress dreams about going back. In these... Continue Reading →
Leaving
Three years ago I dropped out of college. Well, technically I didn't drop out, I took an "Extended Medical Leave of Absence". I've always been quick to point out this technicality. "Oh, no, I'm not a college drop out, I'm just on an Extended Medical Leave of Absence." It's taken me three years to come... Continue Reading →
Sir Terry
"Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?" – Sir Terry Pratchett, Going Postal I've been trying to write this post for five days. It hasn't been easy. It's almost like I feel that if I press that publish button then it's really true: Sir Terry Pratchett... Continue Reading →
Train Song
In Bluegrass, there are a lot of songs involving trains. I guess that makes sense given that Bluegrass came about during the 1930s when there were a lot of songs about hoboing and working on the railroad and all that. I've been trying to write a train song for about a year now. I've had... Continue Reading →
Bassic Love
Yesterday, I celebrated my one year anniversary with my upright bass. I'd spent Valentine's Day helping out at the Grasshopper Shop and when I came home there was a bass in my bedroom. Now, my bedroom could accurately be described as a hobbit hole. It's long and narrow, it's actually a smaller than my half... Continue Reading →
Conversations with Trolls
This is a poem that I wrote a couple years ago in one of my fits of whimsy. I was looking back through my poetry this morning and thought that I'd share this one today. While I was hiding from the rain beneath the old bridge that spans the little river by the mill I... Continue Reading →
World Cancer Day
Hello. Today is World Cancer Day. I'd like to tell you about a friend of mine named Tracy Jalbuena. Tracy works in the Emergency Room with my dad. They were hired at the same time and so our families have been pretty close. I babysat for Tracy's kids, Noah and Tess. I dog sit for... Continue Reading →
Thirty-Two Percent
As a writer, even an unpublished undiscovered writer, the thing I'm most frequently asked is "How close are you to be done?" This may from the outside seem like a perfectly reasonable question, but it drives me crazy. Sometimes I want to say, "my book will be done when it's done and only then." But... Continue Reading →
Work
Last year, my parents - who are sainted beings - convinced me to resign from a retail job that I'd held for almost two years in order to focus fully on writing my novel. I was extremely resistant to this idea at first. I don't like to quit. I also don't like to feel as... Continue Reading →
To Read or Not to Read
Reading has always been one of my favorite activities. I wasn't one of those kids who started reading really early in life. My parents would read to me, but I didn't learn to read until kindergarten. It took me a couple years to get the hang of reading, but by the time I reached second... Continue Reading →