writing

My sister and I always felt connected through our friends and family apps on our phones. Sometimes, we’d text each other about where we could see each other. “How is Spain?” I’d ask. Or she’d say, “Welcome home,” after I returned from a trip. So the day her husband finally turned off her phone and [...]

I’m nearing the end of the first draft of my next book, and the surprise I expected just happened. It always does. Although I plan out the story by knowing the beginning, expected ending (which may or may not happen that way), and the plot points along the way, I let the story unfold. This [...]

There’s a last time for everything. Sometimes, but not always, we get to choose when that will be.

In the 1970s, I lived in Venice, California. Even then, it was a weird and strange place, some of which I loved, and some of which I didn’t. We lived only a block from the beach in a courtyard, which meant all the houses faced a common sidewalk. We knew our neighbors. Some of us [...]

One day, the magnificent multi-trunked tree in our backyard gave us a warning. We came home from our early morning shopping, and one of its massive trunks had fallen. It chose to fall quietly when no one was home so the sound it made would not frighten anyone. It hurt nothing. Not a single branch [...]

Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences. — Robert Louis Stevenson How many times have you tried to change someone, or even yourself, and failed miserably? Without knowing a single thing about what happened or what you were trying to do, I know why it probably didn’t work as well as [...]

You can dissolve any problem. Yes, this is a preposterous statement. Any problem? Yes, any problem. Eventually. But there is a price to pay. Not in money. But in paying this price, you don’t give up anything. You will get something. Because what you want is not something you hold in your hand. It’s something [...]

Not If It Was Never Lost In May, I lost two things. In September, I found them both. Yes, I looked for them, but when I couldn’t find them, I considered them both gone and replaced them. After all, they were only a garden trowel and a paring knife. I found the knife after our [...]

I’m a design show junkie. Fashion design, furniture design, house design, garden design, food design, even Lego design. Who cares what it is? When I find a design show to watch, I get all tingly and excited. Watching the creative process is exhilarating and inspiring. And some designs that come out of that process are [...]

I opened the drawer where I keep candles and flashlights and realized that I still had two beautiful scented candles waiting for me to use them. It reminded me of my mother’s candle drawer. Actually, not just one drawer, two big ones stuffed with candles of all sizes and shapes. She never lights them. Even [...]

Habits are wonderful. Except when they aren’t. The habits I like are the ones that keep me in line, moving down the road towards where I want to go. Habits I don’t like are like ruts in that road. Ruts can be challenging to get out of, especially when we do the exact opposite of [...]

Last summer, I watched wren families move into a nesting box. First, they took out what was already in the box. They were so industrious. For hours the wren would pop in and then pop out with old nesting material in her beak. She’d toss her head to throw it and then pop back in [...]

While the Soleis traveled as slowly as possible, the Eos was moving as quickly as it could. So fast sometimes, Meg wished that it would slow down. Like Stryker, she didn’t like ships either, and for many of the same reasons. Mostly, she hated the rocking and rolling. No matter what she did, she constantly [...]

Shifting Stories: Sampling Books, One (or 2) Chapters at a time. Your imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions. —Albert Einstein Now that you have the basic tools, are you ready to get started? Each week has a different focus, but the imagination exercises each day will remain mostly the same. [...]

The answer is yes; you’re probably doing everything backwards. Which makes life much harder than it needs to be. It’s time to stop working against ourselves. The way to do that is to be flexible before strong. I mean this both literally and figuratively. I’m serious. Being a business and life coach for almost thirty [...]

An evil tyrant. A rebellious uprising. Will her destiny prevent total destruction… or send everyone to their doom? Her gift of shapeshifting may have disappeared, but Meg Porta won’t let her new home perish. Clinging to a slender thread of hope, she’s forced to fulfill her mysterious part in an ancient prophecy. But when the [...]

Shifting Stories: Sampling Books, One (or 2) Chapters at a time. I choose, therefore I am. —Amit Goswami, The Self-Aware Universe I wanted to change the world. But I found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself. —Aldous Huxley We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go [...]

A Metaphysical, visionary, fantasy, adventure: “Open up, Hannah,” Beru urged me as we ran. “Accept the help that is being offered to you. Breathe it in.” I was panting so hard I had no breath to ask her what she meant by help. I was nearing my last ounce of energy, and neither Beru nor [...]

Shifting Stories: Sampling Books, One (or 2) Chapters at a time. Imagination should be used, not to escape reality, but to create it. —Colin Wilson Shall we begin? Let’s create a new reality together. But first, let’s talk about a few of the essential tools that you will be using in this course. There are [...]

A Metaphysical, visionary, fantasy, adventure: Ruta moved through the woods faster than I thought possible. Beru was even quicker. She kept circling back behind me and then running ahead of Ruta, and then coming back to me. I was running faster than I had ever run before, so how she was doing that was a [...]

Shifting Stories: Sampling Books, One (or 2) Chapters at a time. The man who has no imagination has no wings. —Muhammad Ali Here is the question you might, and probably should be, asking yourself. Why bother with learning how to be an Imagination Master? What practical use could being a master of imagination be in [...]

Once upon a time, a coach I was working with told me I could be another Tony Robbins.  I said, no. I had no desire to be the person who I would have to become to do that.  He didn’t understand, and not long after that told me he couldn’t work with me anymore. Well, [...]

A Metaphysical, visionary, fantasy, adventure: It was as terrifying as standing at the open door of an airplane getting ready to jump. Or at least I imagined it would feel the same way even though I had never experienced that myself. Leaning forward and seeing the ground thousands of feet away, not knowing where the [...]

Once upon a time, there lived a husband and wife who were very good friends. Their names were Agatha and Winston. Agatha was a small, very round, gray bear who loved to amble through flower gardens smelling the flowers and petting the bees. Winston was a tall rather saggy and unstuffed brown bear. This unstuffedness [...]