Pause for the Cause
Last week, I celebrated my birthday doing something I absolutely love to do; setting up my easel on a street corner and painting. An even greater joy than creating the artwork is talking to curious onlookers about Jesus. The scene that day was a McDonald’s restaurant undergoing major renovation. Janice (not her real name) stopped to watch me paint. She …
Rain Bow in the Rose Bowl
A light drizzle fell over the San Gabriel Valley Tuesday morning (5-1-12). The thought crossed my mind that this would be a great day to go out and paint. I returned to a site I’ve painted many times; the Rose Bowl. I was greeted by major construction in progress there. The press boxes and private suites were covered with iron …
Painting on a Porch
I decided to take a few days off from writing to paint. I did the (square) painting at the top of this page on my iPhone using the Layers app. I look at this two and a half years later and wonder how I did it on such a small device. For several years, most of my artwork was done …
A Tip for Finishing Your Book Sooner Than Later
Short of having a deadline set by someone other than yourself, it can be a challange to finish a novel or other long form writing in a reasonable amount of time. Of course, ‘reasonable time’ is different for different people. If you’re a working mom helping children with homework, cooking meals, going to PTA meetings, enjoying pleasurable moments with your …
A First Step to Success for the Independent Author
I’m sure there’s a more fitting cliché about ‘walking a mile begins with the first step’, but no particular one comes to mind at the moment. That might be a good sign to an aspiring author; that is, to forget the clichés. Never-the-less, many meaningful words can be written without being redundant about the first step to achieve success as an independent …
The Experiment Continues – She Can See Updates
I mentioned in a previous post that writing a novel can be like herding cats. I finally got all the cats (cast) corralled this past week. However, in the process of rounding all the characters up and putting them in place, I am telling a somewhat different story. The challenge I face now is, how do I keep you who are …
Writing a Novel Can Be Like Herding Cats
You have a great idea for a novel. You have a vision for the main character. You know their strengths and weaknesses. You can see the challenges and struggles they will overcome that will establish their hero/heroine credentials. You start writing. Your main character may come on the scene like gang-busters, or they might emerge from the crowd to take …
Autism, Asperger’s Syndrom and Childhood Mental Health
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report Thursday regarding the rise of autism. One of the more shocking stats of the report is that the condition has spiked nearly 80 percent in the last ten years. Mental and emotional disorders in children have been of interest to me since I worked in Colorado at a school for …