Month: May 2022
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Cemetery Cleanup Day
Yesterday was cleanup day at the cemetery. This cemetery is in northern Minnesota and is connected to my wife’s family church. We are camping nearby for Memorial Day weekend, so we went over to help. I didn’t have any gear so I was put on blower duty. Several others had weed trimmers and I followed…
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Donuts & Lard
Made donuts today. It was my mother-in-law’s recipe that she has made for a very long time. No offense to Krispy Kreme or Kwik Trip, but they are the best donuts ever. I’m convinced the secret to the taste is lard. Rendered pig fat. Not vegetable oil, not peanut oil. Fat. From an animal. Mmmm,…
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A Short Piano Journey
My son played piano when he was a kid. Unfortunately, I pushed too hard on the practicing and he left it behind when our piano teacher moved away. But he had skills…maybe someday he will choose to play again.
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Amazon Books Make on Demand Virtual Tour
This is impressive. A 9 minute tour of one of the Amazon MOD (make on demand) sites. It is all about books, so I presume the “make” refers to future. Imagine a 3D print shop at this scale. Everything is barcoded and you can see that each book is different coming down the line.
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Detailed Analysis vs Just Do It
How much craft does a writer need to learn before they start to write? Should you learn deep craft techniques or just write? One Saturday afternoon when I should have been doing chores, I fell down the rabbit hole of reaction videos. Various experts (see below) play a music video, supposedly for the first time,…
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Sound of Silence: The Better Cover
I never got goosebumps listening to Simon & Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence. Until now. This song, by the band Disturbed, came out a couple of years ago and I remember hearing it on the radio and, yes, getting goosebumps. Recently, I came across this video from their appearance on Conan’s show. S&G’s version is beautiful.…
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Writing when Retired: More Experiences
One advantage of getting older is that we are not dead yet. Not being dead means we continue to accumulate experiences. The quantity and variety of these experiences become a resource for our creativity. We have more experiences, and therefore more creative resources, than we did yesterday, last year, or twenty years ago.
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Crossing the Rubicon
https://characterlab.org/tips-of-the-week/all-in/ Character Lab is co-lead by Angela Duckworth, author of Grit (a highly recommended book). This articles talks about the being “all in” on a decision, even though there will (will!) setbacks on any major decisions. That doesn’t mean it is the wrong decision. Here is a quote from the article that explains the “crossing…
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New Book! Writing into the Sunset
I made the decision to become a writer after I retired in 2019. My style is to learn a lot from those that have gone before me. This book has a bit of my writing story and a lot of what I have learned in my writing journey. This is my third published book, so…
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Only compare yourself to yourself
https://characterlab.org/tips-of-the-week/me-to-me/ This is a great article on the importance of comparing yourself to yourself, not to others. We do not have an objective view of our own capabilities. Also we only see the public view of others. Trying to compare ourselves to others is like looking at two paintings across the room when you have…