I am a rock, I am an island. And a rock feels no pain. And an island never cries. - - - Simon and Garfunkel Back in 2016, I was feeling sad and isolated. I had a new writing project which usually fills me up with exciting anticipation. Not that they’re easy. My...

I know a woman who has a handful of psychics at the ready. When she’s trying to figure out what to do about something, she consults with the first one. If she doesn’t like what the woman has to say, she goes on to the next one. And on and on until one of them says...

Oscar Wilde said, “Be yourself; everybody else is already taken.” I was recently commissioned to ghostwrite someone’s memoir. I’d done a lot of ghostwriting in my life but not for years. I’d been focusing on my own novel, my weekly blog and being a writing coach. I...

My sister came to visit me last weekend. It was the first time in a long time, she lives in Northern California, and I was thrilled to have her here. We ate great food, we shopped, we watched the San Francisco 49ers, my sister’s favorite football team (they won!), we...

A friend of mine was on a spiritual retreat, facilitated by a guru who claimed to always be happy. He expected everyone else to be happy, too, so if a follower appeared to be sad or angry, he invited them to leave. One day, my friend was hungry and he headed for...

We don't know the extent of what we know. Or how much we know. Or how well we know it. In March of 2016, I started my first six week writing course. I was qualified. I’d written countless books and many of them had become bestsellers I wrote every day, I considered it...