This post has been in draft form for a long time. On this Sunday morning, I'm reminded that I have a natural park in my backyard, a resort-like setting, and a 16-inch 2019 MacBook Pro to warm my lap as I type. What could be better than to spoil this moment by writing about politics?… Continue reading On community
I’m now an adjunct!
Last October, a professor in the business department at Diablo Valley College (DVC) asked me if I would apply to teach part-time in a new digital marketing certificate program. It was an easy decision; of course I would. I'd been volunteering at DVC since late 2018, speaking in classes and helping with pitch competitions. I… Continue reading I’m now an adjunct!
A one-hour brain dump
It's almost 9:30pm on a Sunday night. I haven't posted here in about a month. Tonight, for the first time in a while, I feel like blogging. So I'm going to write for an hour, straight through with very minimal editing, and wrap up at about 10:30pm. It's now the end of September. The statewide… Continue reading A one-hour brain dump
Three early observations about writing a novel
I'll state the obvious first: it actually is as hard as you think. When I began this process around around this time last year, I told myself not to overthink it. I was going to write a novel, simple as that. I wasn't going to agonize over plot lines and details. I wasn't going to… Continue reading Three early observations about writing a novel
Origin story of my protagonist’s wife
Here's the result of another exercise. My protagonist's wife, Jo, will play a big role in the novel and I needed to figure out what she stands for. The first thing she noticed was the smell. It was dusty and sweet, like a rotting peach. She yawned as the staff ushered her to the front… Continue reading Origin story of my protagonist’s wife
My first protagonist’s origin story
In case you weren't aware, about a year ago I started writing a novel. It's bound to be a tragedy. In the end, my protagonist will die a lonely death. Readers will know this upfront; the opening scene is his terminal cancer diagnosis. There's a lot more to it, of course, and I've read Story… Continue reading My first protagonist’s origin story
Ten years of marriage
March 14, 2008. Kennebunkport, ME. It was hot in June 2010, but not too hot. I remember being worried that the flowers at the estate where we had our wine country wedding might wilt in the Windsor, California heat. We picked Madrona Manor after touring a few other venues earlier in the year. It was… Continue reading Ten years of marriage
Personal, Perceptible, Practical
Some time ago I learned about Susan Solomon, the atmospheric chemist who discovered that chlorofluorocarbons (a.k.a. CFCs) caused the huge hole in the ozone layer. Remember all that noise about this from the 90s? It went away because of Dr. Solomon. She received her PhD from UC Berkeley and she is currently still teaching and… Continue reading Personal, Perceptible, Practical
How I could be Republican
A year and a half ago I published a piece here describing why I'm a Democrat. It was a bit of a diatribe, really, and it railed against the California Republican Party's platform. I titled it "Why I'm not a Republican." A friend recently challenged me to take a different spin on this topic. Even… Continue reading How I could be Republican
Read Write Play: Q4 2019
Last quarter I maintained a good mix of all three hobbies. My writing was the big focus, though, although you wouldn't notice it from my blog activity. I'll get to that. On the play front, although I continue to progress on piano, the real story was that my wife and daughter started playing too. I'll… Continue reading Read Write Play: Q4 2019