Notes From the Toolbox
There Is No Finish Line
I’ve been attending a lot of author events since the world went virtual. At first, the number of events was overwhelming. It felt as if every creative individual wanted a piece of me, which is silly because no one knows me, other than y’all. Thanks, for being here....
Rewrites
Abigail and I came across Isabel and her dog Dot the other day. They used to be Weekenders. But once Governor Cuomo ordered all nonessential businesses close statewide, they became permanent dwellers in the acreage next to mine. Isabel is an architectural historian,...
Unexpected Inspiration
One of my friends starts chemo today (that’s yesterday in your world dear friends, readers and voyeurs). In order to combat the mounting dread of the procedure and perhaps to sidestep the potential side effects, she decided to put together a meditation board of funny...
Artist Date Rebellion
One of the basic tools for Julia Cameron’s the Artist’s Way 12-week program is the Artist Date. A block of time, perhaps two hours weekly, especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist. In its most primary form, the...
A Passageway to Hope
My neighbor and I barely see each other. We literally can’t see each other because her house sits on the hill behind mine and is obscured by the forest between us. Acres of land surround all the houses in the area where I live. About once a month we wave from our...
I Might Be Virginia Woolf— Part 5
The Hours opens with Virginia Woolf’s most famous line. Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. Woolf, played by Nicole Kidman, scratches out those words via fountain pen and the story of Mrs. Dalloway appears to flow without effort from there. Of...
Storyteller vs. Attention Seeker
2008— I attend my first Surrey International Writers Conference. An eye-opening experience that seared my brain with this truth— I knew nothing about writing, not even after completing three novel-length manuscripts; I understood zilch about writing a novel, a story,...
I’m Not Neil Simon, But…
I’m writing this on August 26, 2020— the second anniversary of Neil Simon’s passing. In case you’re unaware, he was one of the most brilliant comedy writers in the theatre. Some directors say, his plays guarantee laughs every two minutes. With the right actors in the...
Writing Through the Hourglass
“Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.” Since 1965— fifty-five years and counting— those words have introduced one of the remaining dramas on daytime television. All the other soap operas have changed their openings with more contemporary...
The Actor Known as Resistance
Jocosa’s Outline of Resistance 2002— the WAR of ART: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield hits bookshelves— Steven Who? Yes, I saw The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000), multiple times. Loved it. Still do. How could I not? The...