yourpassions.tk

I got sucked into the parallel universe of Google this morning, which is way too easy to do. I’m working on The Los Alamos Years , a sequel to The Albuquerque Years , and wanted to check the elevation of Walnut Street relative to Villa Street on the other side of the mesa top our house stood on. Google Earth answered that, but then another question arose about where someone else’s house was, and that led me into GoogleMaps , and that led me to Street View , and I ended up virtually walking home from high school. The virtual walk went a little bit faster than the actual one would, but not much, by the time I swung around to look at things, and eventually made it “home.” During the time I lived in Los Alamos, we always lived on Walnut Street, but we lived in two different houses. I have been back in person, but not since 2000, and I’d vowed not to go again, because it was too heart-breaking to see seared mountainsides where a lush ponderosa and aspen covered panorama towered above the t...

Roses are red, Violets are blue. Blog readers are sweet, They keep my words new. On this Valentine’s Day I send a special greeting to each and every reader, and a huge message of gratitude for all your inspiring and thought-provoking comments. I’ve often said that I write primarily for myself, because I love to write, and in a sense that’s true. My thoughts take shape as I write. I discover new ideas, new perspectives, and the world takes on fresh shapes and colors as it filters through my fingers. But, the longer I write, and especially the longer I write for this blog, the more reward I discover in interaction with readers. Dear Blog Readers, life would not be the same without you. I cherish you. I treasure you. So I send you this Valentine, made especially with my very own pixels, just for you. It is torn from the silken fabric of my heart, to speak directly to yours. Thank you for making my life richer by being here. And please, keep those comments coming. They are unbelievably pre...

Some stories get stuck halfway out. Or they may not get out at all. We feel them stirring within, writhing and turning, kicking to get out, but the harder we try, the harder we push, the more tightly they stick in their spot. I’d be terminally discouraged if I kept track of all the blog posts I’ve begun and eventually deleted because they just didn’t work. More often I am able to finish them, but only with considerable rewriting, rephrasing, and perhaps a few days of fermentation. Sometimes when I ’ m stuck, it ’ s enough to sit back, breath deeply and ask myself, Just what is it that I’m trying to say? What do I want people to understand when I’m done? What is my purpose in writing this? These questions usually serve to pop things into focus. The next level of action involves calling or e-mailing a friend, or consulting my resident idea-bouncing partner, aka Hubby. He’s especially good at extracting the kernel of meaning from my ramblings, and getting me back on track. The most pow...

Today marks the third anniversary of this blog, an event that calls for celebration. I began the blog for the specific purpose of promoting The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing , which was undergoing final editing and due for release six months later. I may have begun the blog anyway because my delight in teaching other people how to write lifestories developed long before I to write about writing at least as much as I like to write stories, so what is more natural than blogging about writing? When I first began, ideas for posts gushed so fast I could barely keep up with listing them. I determined not to overwhelm readers and settled on a pace of two to three posts a week. Like any large writing project, ideas have been more abundant some times than others, and occasionally I was convinced my muse Sarabelle (who introduced herself to me and blog readers on June 19, 2006) had abandoned me forever. The blog has evolved in several respects. The appearance has changed from the generi...

Four different people in the last twenty-four hours have e-mailed me the link to a website with a photography of President Obama’s inauguration address. The photo was taken with a gigapan robot device, enabling viewers to zoom in, much like GoogleEarth or GoogleMaps displays. From a perspective covering hundreds of thousands of onlookers, you can zoom in to dimly see individual notes on band members’ sheets of music. You can also clearly see the expressions on the Bush and Cheney families’ faces. As I looked at President Bush’s expression, my first thought was, He looks really unhappy . Then I thought, That’s a good start, and utterly trite — how can I describe him more accurately? I thought about the advice I give students: “Really, very, too, and similar words are meaningless fluff. They add nothing. Tell your readers what you see that makes the person or object more than ordinarily (whatever term you are using). If you say the day was very cold, tell them what is unique or impre...