This week we’ve all heard how incompetent we are: according to the media, none of us pee enough or understand that nuclear power was idiotic to begin with. Some of us do and did. That includes me. How about you? While you’re thinking about it, here’s something to like: check out “Field Study Stars Rock […]
Living
Winning National Writing Awards
We had a winning table at the Dog Writers Association of America (DWAA) writing awards banquet at the Affinia Hotel in New York City Feb. 13, 2011! This is the DWAA’s 76th year, a professional association of people writing about dogs in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, books, and in art and photography. We were gathered to […]
The Other Fritzes
My version of the Fritz family is complete with two dogs and a cat (and Fallon, and …). My brother’s version has a Jack Russell terrier, Skittles, and three fantastic humans I am proud and honored to call family. Here’s Ron and Jan with Justin, graduating from the University of Oregon in 2010, and Randall […]
You Are Your Brand: How Being a Lousy Criminal Can Be Good for Business
Yes, being a lousy criminal can be good for our business. Let me explain. We are our brands. As entrepreneurs, as people living our daily lives, everything we do reflects on our business, good, bad, or indifferent. It makes a difference. So how do we make that difference a good one? By always thinking about […]
The Guardians of Alki
Yes, I talk with gardens and the beings who look out for them: where I live, I call them the Guardians of Alki, because Alki Beach is our neighborhood, and the names the guardians have historically been assigned are mean and scary and not worthy of us or them. Besides, at the time it didn’t […]
Is It Weather Worker or Weather Talker? How to Work with Weather
I call myself a weather talker, not a weather worker. There is a difference. A weather worker changes the weather, usually because the weather worker wants to. The weather and the land around it, including the guidance forces that created it, are not always consulted. While many of us can change the weather (yes, change […]
Sinking or Swimming While Writing Your Book
The hardest book I’ve ever done? My own. No kidding. Not even the analytical, skeptical, intuitive, optimistic cynic in me saw that one coming. In all the years I’ve written and worked with other authors, nurtured them through the writing and publishing process, never have I had so much trouble! I astonished myself with the […]
Alchemy West: Our Interview at Working Dog Wednesday
Robyn: One of the best things at Alchemy West in 2010 was working with Bella the Boxer and her staff, Ellen Galvin and Patrick Galvin, on Bella’s book. Yes, Bella is a dogpreneur and wrote Secrets of a Working Dog: Unleash Your Potential and Create Success. Bella has upped the ante on the self-help genre, […]
What’s Up with Our Gardens: Intuitively Connecting with Nature
All of nature is willing to talk and work with us. The question is: are humans? I, for one, talk with nature, with the beings most people don’t consider to be alive like we are, let alone able to speak with us. Including our gardens. Some years ago I decided to take over the neglected […]
Storytelling: Two Approaches to Characters
Our stories are living beings, equal partners in our passionate, purposeful, plain fun lives. Our stories matter. The process of telling them matters. How do you learn to write? You write. You think. You read. Here are two novels to think about. What do they share? Christopher Moore. Fluke, Or I Know Why the Winged […]