LIFE
The Falsehood of Definitions
There’s a presentation I do at writing conferences called “Success, Failure, and Other Myths of the Writing Life.” People get so caught up in words like “success” and “failure” and their perceived meanings. No one would argue that Hemingway was a success, but he also...
The Discomfort Zone
If we had given up and turned back during the bike trip, she would have walked away believing that “I can’t do it” is true. Instead, she saw it through to the end and now knows that while it might be hard, she is absolutely capable.
Family Camp
Wait. Writers Camp, Couples Camp, and now Family Camp? We’ll, we’re kicking around the idea. We have many friends who would love to attend Couples Camp (and whom we’d love to have join us), but they have young children whom they aren’t comfortable leaving with other...
Our Experience With The GRIT Challenge
If you keep thinking about it, you might never do it. Just rip the band-aid off and commit to investing in yourself right now.
Find a Way
At no point throughout this debacle did we think that a little detail like lack of shoes would stop us from completing a challenge that we’d committed to. We have will, so we’ll always find a way.
The Trials of Travel
The other day I wrote about tag-team parenting and how important it is to trade off the parenting duties, especially when we travel. Otherwise, we might just go crazy. Right now we’re in Mexico living in a tiny space – two bedrooms and a bathroom that we share with...
Traveling Minors
At the ages of 10 and 12, it’s time my daughters take a greater role in navigating the logistics of airline travel. We’ll work on one little piece at a time, and eventually we’ll have it all covered, from using airplane mode to filling out customs and immigration forms.
LEGACY
Living a Better Story is Easier than Most Realize
“And once you live a good story, you get a taste for a kind of meaning in life, and you can’t go back to being normal; you can’t go back to meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time.”― Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand...
The Gospel of Story
Story is how we tell each other what it is to be human.” When she said those words, you could feel the power of them wash over the room of writers.
Veterans Day, 2019
I thought about writing about my father today. He was a Veteran, though he died earlier this year and so now I guess I should be thinking about him on Memorial Day. But it’s not Memorial Day. It’s Veterans Day. And here’s the thing on that... In the past I’ve seen...
My Dream Office
I optimize my environment by knowing exactly what I need, while remaining adaptable. I know that stressing over the perfect environment is not optimizing it, but a form of procrastination.
What Stands in a Storm
Mike and I recently returned from a conference/mastermind group in Orlando. I spent the majority of our flights home in that awkward state where you’re trying to cry as quietly as possible. No, I wasn’t sad to leave Florida. I wasn’t afraid the plane would plummet...
Do It Anyway
It’s not easy to put yourself out there, especially if it’s not something you naturally love to do. But sometimes you have to do it anyway.
Trust the Process
I’m a firm believer in process. This is the means by which you approach any significant undertaking and break it down into manageable pieces. My first understanding of process in action came in relation to writing. I learned the hard way, over many years. Because......
Getting More Than You Give
And as far as volunteering, I thought that those people must be a better type of person than I was. They were special or super human and I was just normal. You had to be special (or court-ordered) to put time and effort into volunteering. Because I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why you’d do it. I didn’t understand.
LIVELIHOOD
Tag-Team Parenting
This morning over breakfast, I told Mike about a project I’m working on and that I’m falling behind schedule. His immediate response was to carve out a portion of the day during which he would take the girls out and occupy them for a few hours. This is a perfect...
Your Team Matters
It’s not that my teammates looked miserable, but they did appear to be incredibly serious. While the other team warmed up for a friendly soccer game, my squad readied themselves as if going to war.
If You Build It, They Will Come… Not Actually True
I wonder how many people took that line from Field of Dreams and ran with it. I think a lot of people don’t realize that they’re operating from that mentality when they start something. In Writing: I see a lot of people publish their books and then not understand why...
On Stopping to Think
My kid isn’t late to school because of how fast or slow I drive. If my kid is late to school, it’s because she wasn’t ready on time.
Duration has Nothing to Do with Intensity
I used to think working for 15 hours a day meant I was applying more intensity to my work and therefore expected better results from my efforts. But when I really examined where and how I spent each hour, I realized there was a lot of unproductive time mixed in. And...
Find a Way
At no point throughout this debacle did we think that a little detail like lack of shoes would stop us from completing a challenge that we’d committed to. We have will, so we’ll always find a way.
In Pursuit of Dreams
There’s a saying… Writers hate to write but love to have written. This is a great example of what separates those who pursue their dreams versus those who do not. The key difference between the doers and the talkers is how they approach the pursuit. Lots of people...
The Gambler & the Investor
As writers, we often get in the way of our own progress because we struggle with the monotony of small gains, day after day. We don’t want to make the investment. Instead of embracing the effort required and creating in ourselves the necessary discipline, we get in our own heads and start questioning what we’re doing. Why am I wasting time trying to craft these words that might never get published/read/liked/fill-in-the-blank?