We Knew This Day Would Come

  Her paw print arrived today. Bastards. Just about the time I could get through three hours at a time without crying; just about the time I no longer bowed in reverence to the sacred places where she loved to sleep; just about the time I’d laughed really hard in days,  I opened the card from the vet who put my dog down. There was Libby’s paw print. Punch to the gut. Damn doctor. She didn’t even warn me. A sudden gasp caught in my throat and then came the heaving … [Read more...]

Seeking Clarity, Maybe Even Peace

**** Hello All, I have been away. Lots of life to attend to. I am beginning to make my way back to doing what I really love --writing and corresponding with you. There's a partial explanation to my absence contained in this blog post. I have also been busy working on a novel (among other creative projects....) I've missed so much my interaction with you, though. I would just like to say thanks for caring, paying attention, reading, sending prayers and love for our … [Read more...]

Boatload of Dreamers

Today is my eldest son, Nathan’s birthday and this year, we have a lot to celebrate. He just sold his first screenplay out in Los Angeles. Yep, Hollywood, the real deal -- writer, director, agents, lawyers, “my people will call your people,” that kind of screenplay. Sounds glamorous, right? Of course it does. And while it touched off a flurry of coast-to-coast woo-hoo texts among our little family that could, with every imaginable emoji following behind it, (my three … [Read more...]

Jet Fighters or National Parks – You Make the Call

How could I have been so disdainful? Almost hateful. Normally, I’d just gun it, all 427 miles, like being forced to sit through a PowerPoint before you get the free steak dinner from the timeshare pitchman. Who could blame me? I’m spoiled. My life has been rooted in some stunning landscapes. They don’t call New Mexico the “Land of Enchantment” for nothing. I have lived in Albuquerque, Lake Tahoe, Key West, San Francisco and Virginia Beach. Coastal Carolina? Oh, … [Read more...]

Cue the Puppies

Behold the gatekeepers. The Slice Literary Writers’ Conference I attended in Brooklyn last weekend proved to be an eye opener. It was a privilege honestly, to see and hear first-hand from the real deal in this moving target we call publishing. I refer to them as gatekeepers, not to be churlish, but simply to acknowledge that the agents, editors, publishers and publicists, sitting on panels with their names on poster board table tents in front of them, constituted a … [Read more...]

Be a Badass

Sunrise, August 27, 2014, eastbound U.S. Highway 70, 83MPH en route to Indianapolis and I am a fucking race car driver. It was the music. I was jammin’ out to Crossroads, full blast. Full blast and feeling fine for no apparent reason.  Hell, I was on my way to a video shoot, with four hours on the road, coming and going. But with the sun coming up over church steeples and countless rows of corn flashing by at the speed of, well, 83MPH, and Clapton blaring from my … [Read more...]

Look Up, Look Down, Be Silent

Thousands passed daily, unaware. They were busy. Busy with life, busy on their cell phones, senses plugged by earbuds or constant chatter, white noise, windows up, closed off, busy. Their loss. How could they not notice the unfolding of a reality show above them, the inspiration of which I have not experienced in a long time. If ever there was something uplifting it was the daily episode of Life in the Nest of the Mississippi Kite. For several days in late July, a … [Read more...]

From London With Love

I had never seen this particular photo of my brother Garrett until it arrived via Gmail last week, a trans-Atlantic bullet train back to the summer of 69.     “I was looking through albums and boxes of photos last week and came across Gary's picture from all those decades ago. I started thinking of him again – as I have from time to time...” Forty-five years later a lady in London had Garrett on her mind. So she Googled him. Don’t we all? Whether … [Read more...]

Arrested Self-Absorption

There’s this Roy Clark song, “Thank God and Greyhound You’re Gone.” Right? That’s kinda how I feel about my kids. Now wait. Hold the phone. Context is everything. When The New York Times Magazine runs a front page story featuring a young, attractive, college grad sitting at Mommy and Daddy’s dining room table with a bowl of Kix and a caption over her head which reads: “one in five young adults still lives with their parents” this becomes cause for celebration in the … [Read more...]

What Are You Willing to Risk?

A friend of mine turned 64 this week, said he played the Beatles “Birthday” song in celebration. Cranked it. Probably danced with his baby girl on his hip. He’s a new daddy. Yep, 64 with a six-month-old daughter, his first child. Life is full and good, albeit not exactly what he’d planned, heading into retirement. Oh well. All of this abundance started with him taking a chance. He risked rejection, humiliation, even heartache, just to speak to the cute salesclerk at the … [Read more...]