It’s only this week, now that I feel almost fully recovered from the brain surgery, that I realize what a big deal it was. Eleven weeks today, almost to the minute, since that aneurysm ruptured and I collapsed on the floor. I really did almost die. And the surgeons really did dig through my brain. … read more Watch over me
Month: January 2016
Presentation skills
It was a poor presentation, and I didn’t even realize it until Tom reached for a chip. I’d spent 40 minutes to make a very small bowl of pate out of the giblets from the whole chicken I was roasting for dinner tonight. Then, rather than present it on one of the many lovely serving dishes we have, … read more Presentation skills
Branching out
Winter keeps invading my spirit. I rally and laugh, and then a cold wind knocks me down to burrow under layers of fleece. The singular gift of winter in North Georgia is the lovely lace of bare trees. White oaks, red oaks, maples, poplars, sweet gum, sourwood, their dancing arms and fingers choreographed to some music … read more Branching out
Suddenly simpler
Sometimes my to-do list is so long, it makes me incredibly anxious. Even worse than the long to-do lists is the mess at my desk. Since November, even before I had a brain aneurysm, my desk has been covered with growing piles of paper: magazines, memorabilia, bills, receipts, cards, and random sheets of information. It corresponds to the … read more Suddenly simpler
Self-doubt
There’s nothing like doing market research on a book to make you feel that you’re not so special. Hundreds of thousands of books are published every year in America. The top nonfiction sellers mostly are written by people who are already famous – actresses, comedians, CEOs and mainstream media investigative reporters. I’m not famous, not … read more Self-doubt
The tugboat and the snowboarder
It’s just a messy pile of color – seven pieces of construction paper that I drew at random this morning and tossed on the board. What I saw in the pile was pleasant because of the colors. But no one would say it had beauty. I played. The triangles suggested mountains. First I did “A Stoplight … read more The tugboat and the snowboarder
Sad stories
The top three bestsellers in Amazon’s “Memoirs” category: A young neurosurgeon gets cancer and dies A young woman grows up next to Rocky Flats, a secret nuclear weapons plant that is poisoning her town A letter from an African American man to his son, “a searing meditation on what it means to be black in America today” … read more Sad stories
It’s about time
For about a week now, I’ve been watching some free videos from the Self-Publishing School. Within the first minute of the first video, I was rolling my eyes at this guy, Chandler Bolt. So young. So enthused. So certain that he can make anyone a best-selling author. So obvious in his marketing style. So why … read more It’s about time
Art therapy
A morning of colored glass. The gleaming pieces caught the sun and the glint of snow through the window. I wanted to handle them all. I got out all the glass fragments that I’d cut this week, and spread them out. And played. I made a dozen small pieces, just a few inches across, and experimented … read more Art therapy
Wherever you are
We waited all week for it. Everyone’s watching the weather report, changing their plans, buying extra groceries. Me, I went to Atlanta and stayed here. We didn’t escape the snow. Atlanta caught the tail of Jonas, and the white crystals snuck in this evening. The view from the condo is not as nice as at home, … read more Wherever you are