All of It

A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

Speechwriter Joke

A speechwriter walks into a bar... have you heard that one? A speechwriter joke? That's right, a speechwriter walks into a bar. That's not a joke. That's the whole thing. There's no punch line. It's a common fact. You could swap out "speechwriter" for almost any...

Let’s Think

Most of my writing looks like this. I spend a lot of time thinking, and whether I'm writing a speech, a short story, or a poem, I have a strong sense of how it will go before I hit the keyboard. I could be in my studio, or here, you see me here, in my library. I'm...

A Life in the Air Force

This weekend, a client of mine retired from the US Air Force. I wrote her speech and trained her to deliver it. You don’t know her name, and she wasn’t involved in any famous initiatives. Not directly. She worked behind the scenes supporting those who support those...

Apalachee High School Shooting

By now, most of you know about the Apalachee High School shooting in Winder, Georgia. If not, you can quickly catch up. I posted about this on LinkedIn, connecting it to my professional world. I'm going refer to my original post somewhat. The Apalachee High School...

Three Years

Three years ago, in 2021, I saw a couple of spiders on my deck. I had only been in Georgia 5 years, and was still discovering how different the wildlife is from my life in the Chicago area. Always fascinated by insects and spiders, I looked it up, and it led me to...

Now and Then

The last Beatles song is being released November 2. Today. This is meaningful to me because, like much of the English speaking world and beyond, I am a Beatles fan. I'm not quite hardcore, but I know most of their catalog and have a solid knowledge of their history....

Vanity Chat-GPT

Have you done a Chat-GPT vanity chat? What’s your take? Is it really you they are talking about? Or, maybe they've not noticed you enough? Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,vanity of vanities! All is vanity.What does man gain by all the toilat which he toils under...

Morning Reading

I often start the morning reading. In this case, an old familiar favorite. Any writer worth his salt is an active reader. This should be an obvious truth, but whenever I talk to someone who tells me they want to write well, I ask them what they are reading. If they...

Perspective

Perspective. That's one of those words bandied about in places like LinkedIn. In fact, so often so that we nod, say something about work-life balance, and keep on doing the same old, same old. In other words, we talk a good talk and still chase things that don't...

Where Are You

This week has taken me across the globe. I've had video conferences with people in Hawaii, Australia, California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Florida, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Mongolia, South Africa, and France. Phone calls to Canada and Ireland. Locally, I've had...

Editing (Oh! I say!)

Editing. A dirty word. A panicky-word. A dreadful word. An often procrastinated responsibility. Filled with new mistakes. Crammed with insecurity. Sometimes more red than black. A comedy of errors. Riddled with indecisiveness. "Why do I bother?" "What difference will...