Nobody Does It Alone
Open any published book to the Acknowledgements page. Notice how many people are listed there and what the author is thanking them for....
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Blog
- Aug 13, 2022
Why I get up early ... Oh, wait, I don't
I love early mornings. I love that luminous, numinous moment every day, when everything is fresh, crisp, untainted. It's the perfect time...
- Jun 3, 2022
Off the Cushion: Contemplative Writing in the Real World
We don’t meditate to become expert meditators, right? At least in the meditation practices I follow, we do eventually get up off the...
- Apr 28, 2022
The Muse Is A Harsh Mistress II
Inspiration is a fleeting, elusive thing. Sometimes you’ll think you have something, but then suddenly the Muse goes silent, disappearing...
- Mar 30, 2022
The Muse Is A Harsh Mistress
Some of my best ideas come to me in the shower. I probably wrote half my master’s thesis under running water. Sometimes I’m inspired by...
- Feb 28, 2022
No Resolutions, No Regrets
When I was 22, I promised myself I’d live with no regrets. This seemed like a good idea at the time—a healthy way to view life as a...
- Feb 1, 2022
The Tears I Shed Yesterday Have Become Rain
— quoted from calligraphy by Thich Nhat Hanh Today is the 30th anniversary of my father’s death. Today I remember him. Every day for 30...
- Dec 8, 2021
Give the shadows room to speak
The best way I know of to bring light to the shadows of my mind is by writing down the shadows and letting them breathe, giving them space.
- Nov 10, 2021
Suffering optional. Pass the chocolate.
As I sail through one green light after another on my way to an appointment, I think of that magical day last summer, out on the lake by...
- Oct 3, 2021
Everything I Touch Becomes Part of Me
Meet Betty. Betty is my sourdough starter. What’s unusual about Betty is not that I’ve given a name to a mere concoction of flour and...
- Sep 30, 2021
Compassion starts at home. Writing practice takes me there.
I'm a writer and a teacher. I write pretty much every day. But just a few short years ago, I was hardly writing at all, except emails and...
- Aug 26, 2021
“But I don’t really write, I just journal”
Can I call myself a writer if all I do is “journalling”? Or morning pages? Writing in a writing class but not on my own? YES. I say yes,...
- Jun 14, 2018
Take Your Body To Heart
It was a revelation of epic proportions when my first meditation instructor said to me, the body feels before you put words to it. I...
- May 24, 2018
Reframing Writer’s Block
The last time I posted here, I said on Facebook that posting weekly was part of my self-compassion practice. Then I promptly skipped a...
- May 4, 2018
Writing With Beginner’s Mind: Reposted
Who knew a four-day, 2500-kilometre solo drive in the rain, preceded and followed by intense moving activities, could be so exhausting?...
- Dec 7, 2017
7 Things I’ve Done To Build A Steady Writing Practice
I was recently asked about what has worked for me in building a regular writing practice. So I’ve pulled together some of the components...
- Nov 17, 2017
On Becoming a “Writer”
When people ask me what I’m up to these days, I get all tongue tied and fumbly. I hem and haw about sort of being more or less kind of...
- Nov 6, 2016
Why Do We Create?
In the Dordogne Valley near the Bordeaux region of France there’s a cave* with a magnificent 13-thousand-year-old painting of a horse on...
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