Life in the fast lane--where's the on ramp?

By Pat_B - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Journal

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

But, was it appropriate?

Last week I posted the first chapter of “My Disco Ball is Broken” here on Blogit, a pathetic bid for feedback. In years past I’ve posted pages from longer works bits of dialog, plot ideas, character studies here. And your comments have always given me answers to my writerly questions. What works?... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, June 12, 2017

Why Teach The Arts in Public Schools?

Remember this? “Joy to the world, All the boys and girls, Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me!” It was Three Dog Night, singing the song by Hoyt Axton. My friend Bob, a keyboardist who sings, had a gig Saturday night at the Alton Museum of History and Art’s celebration of Miles... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, June 11, 2017

A LINK TO THE BBC

“Can writing about pain and secret feelings really help boost your body’s immune system? BBC Future investigates.” http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170601 One of the writers in the Write Your Own Story group at the Main Street Center posted this BBC link on Facebook. It seems the kind of... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Trust ‘em at Your Peril

There’d been no secrets inside the walls of our little house, Mama told us how bad it was: no money, no help, no one we could trust or count on. Sometimes the truth came out when we asked for something: to join the scouts, a bicycle, music lessons. Mother could lash out under stress, she was a... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, June 9, 2017

Main Street Center Writers

Thursday was the day Big Media looked forward to the way kids look forward to Christmas. The stockings would be stuffed with testimony of former FBI Director James Comey. Some of us were tempted to skip the writing session and watch it. It was up to me to come up with topics so interesting that... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, June 5, 2017

Return to “Disco Ball”

Someone in the writing at The Center group asked me last Thursday if “Bloody Helll….” was the only novel I’d written, and of course I said no. I gave a quick recap of “Waltzing With Zombies,” which has nothing to do with waltzing or zombies, “Women’s Work,” about an 1890’s bank robber/schoolmarm and... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, June 4, 2017

Nunya

A long time ago, when my little girl was a student at Logan college in Carbondale, she worked in the office with a cute little guy named Darrin. They’d become fast friends – she’d taken him under her wing as a brother from another mother. She had sent me a coming out letter a year or so earlier;... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, June 3, 2017

COVFEVE

There was a song my mama sang sometimes when her mind had wandered off to someplace long ago and far away. She may have been assembling a meatloaf or chopping veggies for the salad, standing in our kitchen, but her eyes would gaze off into the distance. Mama’s song, which I’m thinking now was... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, June 2, 2017

On Realizing You’re Lucky

We’ve all had tough days “sunny days that I thought would never end,” to quote James Taylor. Hard times, obstacles to overcome, sh*t that hit the fan. We’ve asked “Why me?” and spent hours wallowing about the misfortunes and trauma that wash over and knock us on our butts. I remember a day at... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, June 1, 2017

Just a little P.S. about today's writing group.

It worked like a charm... The guy in the room wrote about being in the World Financial Center - across Wall Street from the twin towers - when the planes hit, about having to evacuate the building and get a car-pool ride home to Hoboken because all the trains and subways were closed down. Ibbie... Sign in to see full entry.

About this Blog

Sometimes you have to write it down in order to learn what you really think about life, what it means, how to do what's best. Sometimes you need feedback from someone else to put things in perspective.

People

Blogs

Headlines (What is this?)