I had hit a wall with writing Santa Fe Blues before my daughter went into the hospital in May. I was still writing, but it was a slow process — much slower than Paint It Red had gone. I was frustrated, but determined to finish the draft before I made any judgments about its quality. […]
Updates on my books
An Escape Is Good Enough
Two weeks ago, my 2-year-old went into cardiac arrest in her high chair. I happened to be home at the time, and performed CPR until the paramedics arrived. She (and I, with her) spent 10 days in the ICU, where the doctors got her heart rhythm under control and she underwent heart surgery. In the […]
Finding Time for What You WANT to Do
I got an email from a woman in response to last week’s newsletter — and it intrigued me. Like me, she’s a copywriter, she’s a mom of young kids, and she’s written a few books (so far unpublished). She asked me how I balance my copywriting business with writing books. What intrigued me about this […]
Shifting Gears Without Losing Momentum
I’ve been really struggling with the paranormal novel I’ve been working on (working title Thorns of Summer). I’ve been writing for hours after the kids go to bed, and barely squeezing out 250 words. It has been painful. I knew where the story was going, but I couldn’t quite get the characters there — and […]
Digital Minimalism and the Gift of Solitude
Recently I’ve been reading Digital Minimalism (affil.) by Cal Newport. A friend recommended it after hearing about The Dimmer Switch: Reflection as a Path to a Brighter Future, the book proposal I’m working on on the subject of reflection — and I see why. In addition to painting a stark picture of the mental health […]
Habits + Creativity
I’m fascinated by habits — how they serve us, how they hurt us, how to create them, how to break them. I’m also fascinated by creativity — how we combine what we’ve learned to build new things, how we block our own creativity and how we can release it, how creativity heals us and connects […]
