Clear your own ground
“If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing, then the desire must be not to write.” – Hugh Prather I hope you won’t mind this wee note to celebrate. 37days started a year ago today. It is the best job I never had. It began as a …
Always carry a pencil
“What writing is all about is what happens on the page between the reader and the page…What I want is a collaboration, really, with the reader on the page where the reader is also making an effort, is putting something of himself into it in the way of understanding, in …
Save a grocery list
“The palest ink is better than the sharpest memory.” Chinese proverb This luggage tag is what I have left of the ways in which my father’s hands moved and how he grasped his pen, always that blue plastic one with “Modern Barber Shop” on one side and his name on …
Find your saxophone
"Follow your bliss. Find where it is and don’t be afraid to follow it." –Joseph Campbell If you’ve read 37 days before, you might have picked up on my love affair with actor Johnny Depp. Beautiful, talented Johnny. Quixotic, funny, odd, quirky Johnny. Did I mention beautiful? Ooh-la-la. What can …
Write to remember
“Every man’s memory is his private literature.” -Aldous Huxley Several months ago my friend Bob Van Hook sent me a poem written by a man who began losing his grip on memory a few years ago when he was 50 years old. The author, David Hollies, prefaced the poem …
Love unlovable people
“Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.” -Albert Schweitzer It’s easy to love people when they’re lovable. It’s harder when they’re not. In high school, I learned intricate details of the battles of the Civil War. I knew the …
