“They never fail them—these story-people. They live, and we, the readers, live in completeness with them.”

I could eat exactly the same kibble every day for the rest of my life, for to me, food is just sustenance.

My son watches Tik-Tok’s that are satisfying (playdough being sliced, combing long straight hair, etc.) and I would offer that this novel is ever-more satisfying than that!

• directed traffic

• have applauded at over 50 concerts

• have made beautiful music

• have made armpit farts

• are never idle

This book club guide for Lightning’s Hand might start something!

Face it, life can be pretty mundane. Burdens can stack up until they’re soul-crushingly heavy. Souls can be so lonely, so burdened, so overwrought that sometimes getting away from it all is better therapy than a literary bender.

I was coming to appreciate why my son spends hours digging with the enthusiasm of an archeologist all over our property, unearthing rusty bolts and (nearly) unidentifiable car parts.

When I read it recently, I lost sleep, ignored friends and family, skipped a meal…because I was so into it.

This was my first college object lesson, actually running my finger down the spines of those million books like they were a picket fence, from the top to the bottom floor. Prior to that, I had only a vague idea of what a million might really be.

Why should I read that? In my quest for something I’d like, I revisited my first novel and drummed up a few reasons readers might take a shine to it.

He says variously that he's a bad guy, a rascal, a mean old man, destined to a special hell...but in my books, Malcolm Reynolds is the imperfect hero we all need.

They say your first novel is always garbage. They refer to them as vomit drafts and worse. I really did not know what to do with it, so I took their advice and gave it the ol’ heave-ho.

So, I am a wordsmith, but I realize that is going the way of the blacksmith.

I wonder about the tone. I wonder if, perhaps, everyone has their own frequency...and maybe, do kindred spirits have harmonious tones whether they know it or not?

From one vantage point, things may seem flat and lame, but from another point of view, even the smallest detail can stand out. It’s important to seek those perspectives, to recalibrate our heads to see the best in everything.

I’ve done the list, many years now, of Things I’m Thankful For at Thanksgiving. Then I went to a daily 3 Thanks in my journal. I’ve strayed from it, recently, and so….this post!

In those days, I think people took pictures more mindful of the result, more attentive to the content.

“Never mistake motion for action.”

Maybe it's as close as we typically get to death/dying in our culture these days....maybe it's because I always look at life and biology as complicated wetware, cool and gooey machines we are! There is a moment, however, that seems to strike me down to my spinal cord, something so primeval that I don't quite know how to describe it.

These varied POV’s make it more of a challenge to just point a finger and say, “There. That’s the guy. The book’s about him.”