Guess Who

Since I don’t have time to write anything thoughtful right now, here are a few of my past favorites: The Boy in Santa Marta The Indominable Power of Quiet Acts of Courage The Law of Diminishing Intent “No One Knows What They Need…” Magic Realism Realized Yes, it’s the Lazy Blogger.

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Small beauties fill life with wonder

Ten Inspirations

What inspires me today? 1. Thinking of the awesome people in my life. 2. Getting emails from my readers. 3. Reading inspirational quotes as I look for a quote for this post. 4. Creating my own inspirational quote. 😉 5. Letting inspiration flow through me while planning a new story. 6. Getting feedback from a first draft that will make […]

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Where did all the losers go?

Where Did All The Losers Go?

Confession: I personally identified with the label “loser” for the vast majority of my life. It started when I was young, and didn’t relent even after I had success as a writer. Even with millions of copies of my novels printed, translated into other languages, and published by different publishers, I still considered myself to personally be a loser: my […]

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Santa Marta Colombia

The Boy in Santa Marta

The last couple of days, I’ve been thinking about a boy I met just over a year ago. We didn’t exchange anything like words, but there was another sort of exchange, one that is hard to describe. But I’ll try… I’m sitting on the seawall of a Caribbean beach; not a fancy resort beach, but a public beach in the […]

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shackles on shackles off

Shackles On, Shackles Off

I was so impressed by an exercise from “Steering by Starlight”, by Martha Beck, that I just had to share. Fair warning: you may want to read this exercise in her book as well, since I’m explaining my understanding of it, which may be different from what she intended. There is a ton of other valuable stuff in her book […]

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Character Love

Character Love

Today I’m writing on my script, and I’m simply in love with it. There’s nothing quite like creating something from absolutely nothing, pulling entire beings from the ether, and bringing them into the world in a blaze of expression and beauty. My characters have a tough time. They are often in despair. They don’t believe they can face another challenge […]

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Apologies and Get Out While You Can

It seems that even before I started blogging, there was copious advice out there on how to get people to read your posts. As years went on and the internet chatter got louder, there were more and more experts out there who could guide you in acquiring readers. Now, I receive numerous emails per week giving me advice on how […]

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The Indominable Power of Quiet Acts of Courage

I interviewed a woman last week, and WOW, was her story amazing. She is a lifetime volunteer, always giving, sometimes receiving, and so incredibly humble that she had a hard time reading the article that I wrote about her. One story she told really struck me: She has volunteered for most of her life and continues to do so, but […]

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Tackling Procrastination

Things become what you think they are – including your story.   You finally have time to write. The house is quiet. You have no pressing duties. It’s just you and your book for the next two hours. You approach your desk – and a sinking feeling creeps its insidious way into your stomach, or a tension headache flares, or […]

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Just a Little Run Around the World

Guess what this book is about? Yes, Rosie Swale Pope really did run around the world, alone, on a continuous journey – including through Siberia, Alaska, and Greenland during the winters! It took her five years and 53 pairs of shoes, and when she was finished, she was 61 years old. She is my new hero. On her 32,000 km […]

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