Write with TLC

Sometimes it feels like I'm surrounded by deception. We live in a world where deception is excused as spin or perception or opinion or image. While there is some truth to the idea perception influences our perspective of reality, the greater truth is there are some things that are factual, realistic, not up for interpretation. There are other things are simply not true no matter how much they fit the narrative we want to believe. I've lived parts of my life built on a foundation of deception. Deceptions I didn't choose. Deceptions I reluctantly accepted into my life. Deceptions I wore as a cloak from the vulnerability I feared.  Foundations built on deception crumble. Cloaks made of deception are full of holes. It's far better to face the truth, face reality, and then take action. Sometimes we embrace the deception because it feels better than the truth. It feels safer than the truth. It's easier than the truth. It's easier to believe what we want to bel

Last week I wrote about supporting authors without buying their books, so this week I want to talk about a few benefits of buying books. To be honest, there's this little voice in my head going "People need reasons to buy books... They're books. That's reason enough." Of course that's the writer and reader in me. The minimalist and anti-consumerist in me totally gets why many people don't want to buy books. Buying books is a commitment. It's adding another "thing" to your shelves, your home, your life. Let me be clear. I understand that people work hard for their money, and buying a book can feel like a luxury. I totally get it. I've been there. The rent, the mortgage, fuel, food should all be higher priorities than buying books. I remember days when I saved change for a month to buy a book. I'm not, in any way, proposing that people sacrifice necessities to buy books. There are advantages to buying a book. You own the book.

Boise, Idaho Downtown Library in 2002 On several occasions over the years since I published my first book, someone has said some version of "I like your work, but I just don't buy books." To be honest, this used to bother me. I pour my heart, soul, and mind into every book I write, so it felt personal when someone told me they didn't buy books.  Over time I've come to realize there are many reasons people opt not to buy books, none of them are a reflection on me or my work. Some people can't afford to buy books. Some people don't buy books because they don't like to keep books for a variety of reasons. Some people are minimalists. Some people don't get joy from seeing books on a bookshelf. Some people see buying books as wasteful. I generally just smile when someone tells me they don't buy books. I'm not interesting in coercing someone into buying one of my books if they don't want it. I want people who do buy my books to feel

Last night I went to bed thinking about how I choose topics for my blog and why sometimes I end up feeling like I have no topics left to write about. I know intellectually this isn't true, which is why I say it feels that way. There was a time when I had so many topic ideas, I would get so overwhelmed I would fall into analysis paralysis. The results were the same as when I feel like I have no topics left to write. Nothing got written. I reached a point where I felt like this blog had lost its focus. To be more pointed, I had lost my way on this blog. There were things I wanted to say, but I grew increasingly concerned I'd covered this or that or whatever and that I'd said everything I had to say on whatever topic came to mind. In the past, I was often inspired to write about what was happening in my own journey through life as well as by my observations of what was happening in the lives of those around me. But, I started to hold back. I didn't want to shar

When I first thought about challenging myself to not by any clothes for myself for the entirety of 2018 toward the end of 2017, I shrugged it off. It would be no big deal IF I decided to do it, right? If I didn't do it, it also wouldn't be a big deal. Yet the idea stuck with me over the next few days. Then on December 28, 2017, as I placed an order for a couple of dresses to replace dresses I'd recently removed my closet, I kept thinking about the challenge. Did I really need those dresses? I mean really? I had a closet full of clothes. I wanted to be more mindful about my shopping moving forward. I wanted to have a closet with clothes I not only loved but wore. Later that day as I stood in front of my overflowing closet freaking out that I wouldn't have anything to wear if I embarked on this challenge, I took a deep breath. Then I looked at all those clothes I hadn't worn for months, years, or ever - some I still haven't. I felt a pull inside and push fr