That proverbial clean slate. Everything is going to change. No, this isn’t about the Charlie Kirk killing and the impending civil war I contend has already started. And no, it’s not a nod to the YA novel The Maze Runner when the Gladers find Teresa in the box, and she cryptically blurts out this line. … Continue reading A Novel Idea
Writing
Well Played Mr. Trump
So *this* is who we are! Sally Edelstein’s blog Envisioning the American Dream included a post yesterday (July third, the day the house approved the senate version of Project 2025) that mourned the loss of American exceptionalism. To her, exceptionalism meant a country striving towards the ideal stated in the last line of the original … Continue reading Well Played Mr. Trump
Loss
Me, posturing with my comment, trying to seem smart on a smart person’s blog: The detritus from abandoned blogs and terminated online relationships makes my last 12 years hard to revisit. I felt like some of those bloggers were among my best friends until one day they disappeared for good. I often think about looking … Continue reading Loss
Mmmm
“Mmmm.” A dozen voices in unison. Heads nod, claps splatter, polite, but well intentioned. “Wooo, Jenny!” One guy does the snapping thing. By the third reader, I begin to anticipate the Mmmm, an exclamation of knowing approval. After every poem: Mmmm. By coincidence, this happened a couple of weeks ago during an interview. A strong … Continue reading Mmmm
The Book of Losman
Losman and I are identical. I often felt like I was reading about myself. So much so, that by page seventy-five, I was so agitated I almost stopped reading altogether. This is an excerpt from an email I sent to Kyle Semmel the other day. He’s the author of the book I just finished. Right … Continue reading The Book of Losman
Shouting into an Echo Chamber
When class ended, they fist bumped and stretched their legs and grabbed paper towels to wipe down their bikes. A couple of shouts of “good class,” and “thanks Jeff” and people filed out of the room. As they left, I gave a quick plug for my next class, “I’ll see y’all on Saturday at eight,” … Continue reading Shouting into an Echo Chamber
The Sweet Scent of Decay
It started as a running blog. I named it Running, Writing, Other Stuff. Sure, sometimes I wrote about other stuff, but the emphasis was running. Five of my first eight posts focused exclusively on running. It morphed quickly, though. There’s only so much you can write about running, or maybe I should say there’s only … Continue reading The Sweet Scent of Decay
Musings of an Old(er) Runner
As I approached Emmitsburg Road on Millerstown Road, I was wary. I’m always wary at this intersection. These are both double yellow line roads, which sends the message to my brain that I don’t belong here. Still, Millerstown’s speed limit is twenty-five. And the short quarter-mile section I ran connects one park road to another. … Continue reading Musings of an Old(er) Runner
Vanishing Act
Did'ja miss me? I'm not sure if I missed you. Two weeks without blogging has been relaxing. As I get farther from my last post, as fewer people visit my site each day, I begin to lose the compulsion to check my stats every hour. But I feel I owe an update. I made an … Continue reading Vanishing Act
Baby Shoes, Never Worn
The first and only time I wrote a six-word story, I did so as a joke. A bad joke, no one got it. I needed to explain the punchline. Six Word Story – Part II Last week, Bill, the library employee who runs my writers’ group, assigned homework. “Jeff and I have been discussing Negative … Continue reading Baby Shoes, Never Worn
Negative Space
First I searched Google, and later Bing. ‘Crow graphic with negative space.’ I’m planning a tattoo. I have a thing for crows. A year ago, I went on a spree—three stories about crows in two months—the one I killed, the stuffed animal from college, the one that said 'hello.' I Killed a Crow | Crows … Continue reading Negative Space
Telling my Story, or Not
I ran into Sandy in the hallway. “Oh, hey Jeff, this is a heads up. You're going to be formally invited to be a book in the Living Library.” Sandy’s statement probably makes no sense to you, so let me elaborate. A big trend in libraries right now is to offer patrons a chance to … Continue reading Telling my Story, or Not
Open Rate
In a library meeting yesterday with a consultant: “So this newsletter you send out, how many people receive the email?” “Twenty thousand, but only seven thousand open it.” “Wow, that’s a great open rate.” It’s the first time I heard these figures. I’m finance, not marketing. At work, someone else worries about website stats. But … Continue reading Open Rate
Of Perfume and Pan
Consider the beet. Does a better opening line exist in fiction? Confidently giving the reader an earnest command: The beet, consider it! For my return to reading after a year-long hiatus, I selected Tom Robbins’ Jitterbug Perfume from my bookshelf. I often said “this is my favorite book” even though I haven’t opened it since … Continue reading Of Perfume and Pan
A Losing Combination
Under the knife… again, tomorrow, the culmination of a year-long wait. “Let’s see if it improves,” they said, but it never did. “It’s just a mild case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome,” the neurologist dismissed me by turning his back, making this comment already halfway out the door. An affliction of real estate underwriters and insurance … Continue reading A Losing Combination
Interview with No One
I don’t write fiction. Well, okay, I’ve been writing a long time. I have written fiction, but not much. In college, I wrote a story about Cory Seventeen and Cynthia Bluejay, an android and a sorority girl. It wasn't good. I wrote the story because I liked the names I made up for the characters, … Continue reading Interview with No One
Legs
I have attractive legs. No really, I do. I’ve heard it all my life. Hey, nice legs! In high school, twiggy and immature, maybe I wasn't a loser, I had friends after all, but I needed binoculars to even see the popular crowd. I stayed after school one afternoon to run stairs. That’s not as … Continue reading Legs
Writing to Write
That time God spoke from the clouds. In many of the "Rules for Writing" lists on the web, know your audience is number one. I know my audience. I'm writing this for myself. ~ ~ ~ “Hey, where ya been?” That’s what you’re thinking right now, isn't it? At least in my mind you are. … Continue reading Writing to Write
Now what?
WordPress modified their reader again. And like always, they did it without explanation. Now a little graph with numbers appears opposite the likes and comments when I browse the blogs I follow. I can’t figure out what it means. I tried to Google it. No scrap that, I tried to Bing it. I’ve stopped using … Continue reading Now what?
Daydream
The helicopter blades build speed. The gaping side door, slid open like a minivan's, offers a glimpse of the working space inside. When Eli finishes his EMT training, he could join an air ambulance crew. The paramedics load gear, or possibly a cooler chilling a liver for transplant in York. Transplants don’t happen here. We’re … Continue reading Daydream
The Other Stuff 