Last weekend at the Festival of Faith and Writing, Ann Kroeker and I led a Festival Circle (discussion group) called “Advance Your Writing through Giving and Getting Feedback.” We talked about what feedback is helpful at each stage of the writing process and who might be the best person to ask. Read more
ca·pac·i·ty – noun \kə-ˈpa-sə-tē, -ˈpas-tē\ : the ability to hold or contain people or things : the largest amount or number that can be held or contained : the ability to do something : a mental, emotional, or physical ability __________ I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you after last week’s word—deadline—that this […] Read more
hab·it — noun \ˈha-bət\ : a usual way of behaving : something that a person does often in a regular and repeated way : a strong need to use a drug, to smoke cigarettes, etc. : a piece of clothing worn by members of a religious group __________ “You need a rut to run in.” When I […] Read more
Onboard Continental flight 4465, I was looking out the window at the Great Lakes. Having departed from Cleveland, I was pretty sure we were flying over Lake Erie heading Northeast to Burlington, Vermont. As the flight attendant was handing out Ginger Ales and tomato juice over ice, he played tour guide of the skies. “In […] Read more
I’d like to say it was my sister’s fault. I was using the mixer to help, just a bit, with the homemade truffles she was making, after all. But it wasn’t her idea to make the four batches all at once. I had suggested it. And it wasn’t her idea to keep mixing and mixing. […] Read more
When I was a child, I was afraid of the dark. At least that what it seemed like to my parents, who had to leave the hall light on for me until I was in Junior High. It didn’t help that we lived in a house that was built into the side of a hill […] Read more
I’m trying to write, here, and my puppy, Tilly, thinks it’s time to play. Three times she has come running over to my laptop and tried her best to eat the mouse. She jumps up on my lap, licks my hands – which comes dangerously close to biting — and then nudges me with her […] Read more
Over the weekend, I slipped away from puppy care (read: indentured servitude!) just long enough to go to church then to the gym to run a couple of miles on the treadmill. Since Tilly came to live with me, I haven’t had the time to run as usual, and so it was a nice break. […] Read more
How did we get here? Ann Kroeker asks in the third chapter of Not So Fast: Slow-Down Solutions for Frenzied Families. In other words, what led us to think that busy is better? I’ve asked myself that a lot over the years. There was one particular stretch when I was working at a church and […] Read more
When I stopped at the art museum for a couple of hours on New Year’s Eve day, I had chapter 1 from Ann Kroeker‘s book, Not So Fast, in mind. I remembered her story from “What Are We Missing out On?” of her family’s hurried tour through the Louvre in Paris so they could see […] Read more
