Combine unexpected bestseller status with a long drive home on a dark, rainy night, and what do you get? A new understanding of what success really means.
…And an awful lot of frogs.
Category: A Writer’s Life
The Portfolio Life
“For the past century, we have been told a story about work that says we must commit to a certain path in life, spend most of our career doing that one thing, and not veer too far from our area of focus. This, we think, is what mastery is all about. But is that really …….Read More
Avodah – A Word to Live By
Learning a new word doesn’t usually change your life. But this was no ordinary word. Most words are just labels. Useful handles, you might say. We attach them to objects, actions, or ideas, so that we can easily hand them off to others. You know. Words like ‘cotton’ or ‘jog’ or ‘angry’. They have simple …….Read More
Whatever Happened to Words? – Why “Symbol Swapping” is freaking me out.
I was texting when it happened. My headphone case had gone missing, and I was asking a couple of people if they’d seen it. Now, normally I love the little word-replacement feature at the bottom of the phone screen. It’s very handy, since typos are easy to make using just two thumbs on a miniature …….Read More
Project Update – The End of the Beginning
The End. In the overflowing silence that lingered beyond the last notes of music, I felt the magnitude of those two words bubbling up inside of me. They filled my senses. Overwhelming. Breathtaking. Like the feeling you get when you stumble upon some secret place of wonder. Not a bustling tourist trap full of noise …….Read More
I’ve Been Shorted!
I love looking at Christmas lights. But I DON’T love to chew on them. Apparently though, not everyone shares my preferences. (“Wait!” You are thinking. “Hold on now, Leya. Why are you writing a Christmas post now? It’s January for crying out loud! Aren’t you a little late?” Well no. Actually I’m not. But we’ll …….Read More
Project Update – NaNoWriMo Aftermath
Aftermath. Yep. That’s the word. Like when some life-altering cataclysm hits, and you wake up lying in the dirt, blinking numbly around at the altered landscape and wondering what just happened. That’s how it felt to wobble up out of my writing cave once December finally arrived. I know it’s been an outrageously long time …….Read More
Project Update: Headed for the Finish Line
Here we are, standing on the brink of November again. Night breezes are whispering of coming frosts. The sun is sinking lower and lower on the skyline. Squirrels are rustling busily in crisp, golden piles of fallen leaves… And all over the world, writers everywhere are rustling just as busily in piles of outlines and …….Read More
Stand
Those of you who read my last post, (the one about writing short stories) know I was working on something a little different than usual, for a writing contest. And those of you who follow my Facebook page know that to my delighted surprise, I actually WON that writing contest. I promised I’d share the …….Read More
Alive
Recently I wrote a short story. Something I generally avoid. Why? Because most of my ideas ramble on for hundreds of pages, getting more and more complex the longer I let them wander. Hard to encapsulate all that in a few thousand words. But this time I had to do it, for a contest I …….Read More