I was biking on the rail trail this morning when my front tire hit a crack in the pavement and I nearly lost my balance. I hit another, and another, and by the time I’d gotten the hang of running over the cracks, I’d passed them. I pedaled onward. The cracks changed my behavior. My […]
challenge
NaNoWriMo, Week 3
NaNoWriMo Week 3 Statistics: Words Written This Week: 11,783 Total Word Count: 37,434 Percentage Complete (assuming 50K words): 75% Chapters Written: 17 How it’s going so far: I was astonished when I realized, last Wednesday, that I had already surpassed the total number of words I’ve ever written on a novel during my previous best month (20-25K; I’ve […]
This Is My Mission For The Next 4 Years
Like many of you, I’ve spent the last several days thinking about the next four years, and what they will bring. We are on the cusp of big changes to our society and the governing of our country that will force each of us to evaluate what we believe, and figure out how to enact […]
NaNoWriMo, Week 1
I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of National Novel-Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). For those who are unfamiliar, this is a month-long event that takes place every November, in which participants challenge themselves (and each other) to write a full-length novel (50,000 words, approximately the length of The Great Gatsby) in thirty days. It’s an immensely […]
Does Passion Need A Goal?
Yesterday morning, there was a race across the Walkway over the Hudson, a beautiful pedestrian bridge not ten minutes from my house. I’d seriously considered signing up for the race earlier in the spring, but decided (rightly) that I wouldn’t have enough time to train. This morning, I went for a run. I usually go to […]
Hardship is Good For Kids… But Not My Kid
Before I had Edwin, I would have made a compelling argument for childhoods that challenge. I’m not in favor of near-insurmountable challenges, such as extreme poverty, abuse or abandonment, of course. But hardships such as bullying, injuries, rejection from sports teams, struggles in school? Those are the difficulties that test kids, and since kids are […]