I can write to the ambient noise of a coffee shop, but not to music. I prefer to write when other people are sleeping. I like to write on holidays like Christmas and the 4th of July. Something about feeling that the rest of the world is otherwise engaged helps me. Hard as I try, I cannot, cannot, CANNOT write... READ MORE
Photo by Ming My beautiful friend Dana got married to the excellent Saxon and she asked me to say something during the ceremony. What could be a greater honor? And what can one possible say to mark something as momentously insanse and fabulous as getting married? Here is the poem I wrote: For you, under an open sky without beginning... READ MORE
Jimmy Ruffin [audio:Ruffin.mp3] While writing my book on heartbreak (“The Wisdom of a Broken Heart,” due out in September ’09), I’ve turned again and again to that time honored source of knowledge and solace: music. Here are the lyrics to my current all-time fave. It is just so wrenching and poetic. Grab a kleenex and enjoy. WHAT BECOMES OF THE... READ MORE
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Click here for this 30-minute interview on Writing Spirit Resources website. Enjoy!
· If there is no self, whose arthritis is this? · Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated? · Drink tea and nourish life; with the first sip, joy; with the second sip, satisfaction; with the third sip, peace; with the fourth, a Danish. · Wherever you go, there you are. Your luggage is another story.... READ MORE
Article in New Orleans Times-Picayune, in which I was quoted.
So this is what I’ve ended up with, with around 30 hours to go before returning home after one month away. 48,366 words and many short chapters. Laid out as follows: “The Wisdom of a Broken Heart” TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Part One: Relax Chapter One: How the Light Gets In Chapter Two: Depression vs. Sadness Chapter Three: Nothing Happens... READ MORE
Only four more days until I go home. I’m at Shambhala Mountain Center right now, where I’ve been for the past few days. I’m sitting in my very favorite room in the Shambhala Lodge–#308—watching and listening to the thunder and lightning and the sound of rain. Of course it’s nowhere near as luxurious as where I was house sitting, but... READ MORE
This from Philip Pullman, author of “His Dark Materials” trilogy, which I love. To read the whole interview, click here. Thank you, Mr. Pullman. Very clear and wonderful. I especially like this: Then I read it all again and think it’s horrible, and get very depressed. That’s one of the things you have to put up with. I hear that.... READ MORE
An article in the upcoming issue of “We’re So Close, It’s Lonely” Click on this nutty illustration of me to read this essay on loneliness in intimate relationships.
So I can’t believe it, but I’m halfway through my sojourn in the clouds. I feel so sad and happy about this. Of course, almost nothing turned out the way I thought it would, but it has been a momentous time nonetheless. I’m still not sure why. Let me see if I can recount some possibilities. From a spiritual practice... READ MORE
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