Writing Features
The Music in Prose
The best writing and what makes it sing
When Life Is Like a Country Music Song
Giving Thanks 3 Min read 1 Song rec 1 Book rec 1 Poem rec Music in Prose * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Life feels like a country music song this fall. The artist seems to sing directly to me: Bela Flick and Abigail Washburn belt tunes out on the car speaker, banjos...
In Search of the Blue Flower
4 Min read 1 book rec On Friedrich von Hardenberg On teachers On Mathematics On love * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * I have no craving to be rich, but I long to see the blue flower. It lies incessantly at my heart, and I can imagine and think of nothing else....
You’re Not Wasting Your Time…
5 Minute read 2 Book recs, Satoshi Yagisawa and David Foster Wallace On drifters and jobs On the bookseller; on the accountant The Music in Prose AVAILABLE ON PODCAST ON SPOTIFY * The truth is the heroism of your childhood entertainments was not true valor. It was...
A Sutra on Solitude
3 Min read Solitude 1 Book rec and series Buddhist sutra Tool box: The music in prose * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * Solitude and loneliness have been on my mind when this page came up in my reading. SOLITUDE * Being in solitude can help us relax. Solitude doesn't...
How to Improve Your Writing – Part 2: from Confucius to Lincoln
8 min read 1 English textbook 1 Style Guide, Illustrated 4 Writers: Confucius to Lincoln le mot juste Improve writing immediately, ages 9 to 99 Toolbox AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify I sat down with an English textbook* and read through the lessons on improving...
An Alabama Road
3 Min read Music Writing for the senses Songwriting AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY Each singer stepped towards the front of the stage, put a hand on the mike, and burst into five-part harmony. There are stars in the southern skySouthward as you goThere is moonlight and...
Town Mouse and Country Mouse
9 Min read 3 book recs 1 film rec True story: Coffee with "Josh" The Music in Prose: Willa Cather on town and country Wordnerd special AVAILABLE ON PODCAST Spotify * The town mouse and the country mouse. Distress and agitation of the town mouse. Meditations, Book...
Poetry for Emergencies
For milestones, crises, and the unexpected
Gently Weeps
4 Min read Santana The drive home Rain on the Roof Full circle Poetry for emergencies * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Lotus flower at my mother's Buddhist Center in Bealeton, Virginia * I took a trip to my mother's Buddhist center for the one-year anniversary of her death....
Old Boys Rugby: “Scum of the Earth” Sings Second
4 Min read Army Rugby Honors Alumni Match in Aldie, VA Old Boys Army Ruggers Beat Navy Bawdy ballad & Army songs Poetry for emergencies Ages 13 and up * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * At a rugby match, fans won't be suprised to hear the words that come off the pitch. The...
Poetry for Emergencies: Love Fiercely
2 Min read 1 poem rec 1 podcast rec Toolbox * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Sometimes I make things more complicated than they have to be. So I'll write what I'm thinking as if you were sitting here beside me. I listened to a writer talk about his poem, The Truelove, which...
When Life Is Like a Country Music Song
Giving Thanks 3 Min read 1 Song rec 1 Book rec 1 Poem rec Music in Prose * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Life feels like a country music song this fall. The artist seems to sing directly to me: Bela Flick and Abigail Washburn belt tunes out on the car speaker, banjos...
The Monk, the Nun, and the Poet
4 Min read Alternate title: The Buddhist, the Catholic, and the Dying Man Poetry for Emergencies On happiness and desire On reputation Bar joke - in Footnotes 😉 AVAILABLE ON PODCAST SPOTIFY * * It sounds like a bar joke but it's better, because there's more to this...
Water, Water: a Year-End Muse
3 Min read 1 Poetry rec Snowflake and rain fall speed Poetry for emergencies * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST On Spotify * Winter Trivia : It takes approximately two hours for a snowflake to fall from a cloud to the ground. * Epigraph to Winter Trivia by Billy Collins *...
An Omen and 3 Ravens
4 Min read Poetry for emergencies 1 Poem 1 Poetry collection Baltimore & Annapolis A bit of Harry Potter A bit of Edgar Allan Poe US Poet Laureate, Ada Limón * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST ON SPOTIFY * * OMEN. On Gay Street in Baltimore on the way to Johnny's for...
Toolbox
To improve writing, ages 9 to 99
Sunrise at Station Seven
4 Min read Mount Fuji Japan Hokusai on art 1 Book rec Upcoming Events * Nothing I produced before the age of seventy is worthy of note. Hokusai * Sunrise at station seven on Mount Fuji more than anything else helped me understand Japan's namesake. The land of the...
On the Set at 30 Rock — Where’s Camera 1?
4 min read NBC News Daily Audiobook available Four Book Recs Toolbox on creativity * * I joined anchor Vicky Nguyen on national TV this week. This Tuesday, July 7, was the fifty year anniversary when women showed up for the first time as cadets for Reception Day at...
A Flag Day Speech: A Question Becoming an Answer
4 Min read What the flag means to me Those who serve Final verse of the anthem Video and audio links of speech * FULL SPEECH IN AUDIO ON SPOTIFY VIDEO OF OPENING of SPEECH ON YOUTUBE VIDEO OF MAIN SPEECH ON YOUTUBE * * The national anthem does not open with a...
A Veteran’s Four-Word Rule
2 Min read On leadership On rhetoric 1 Book rec - what a combat veteran reads 1 restaurant rec Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * The four-word rule flummoxed me. First, let me frame the story. TJ met with my husband and me during our trip to see my son,...
Tsundoku and a Goodreads giveaway
2 Min read Wordnerd - Japanese word for unread books Studio pickups IndieReader review & rating Goodreads giveaway for Raising Athena * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * Tsundoku My friend Jon sent this word to me in a post, along with a photo of a stack of books. The word's...
Stick Season, 10000 Hours, and a Book on the Way
3 Min read On military service On publishing -- April 21st Launch On writing craft 10,000 hours Apprentice, journeyman, master Toolbox, ages 9 to 99 * AVAILABLE ON PODCAST * And I love Vermont, but it's the season of the sticks. -- Noah Kahan * I look out the window...
Punch, Roll, and Breathe – the Art of Audiobook Narration
4 Min read How a book becomes voice Creative process Voice actor's guidebook Toolbox ages 9 to 99 * AVAILABLE ON SPOTIFY AVAILABLE ON APPLE * "You did about ten full length solo shows with an audience of one," the director said. "Broadway performers only do an...