As a small child, I didn’t get out much. I grew up on a farm several miles outside a small town, to parents who were 45 and 52—old enough to be grandparents. I did not go to preschool, and my parents’ friends didn’t have kids my age. My playmates were farm cats, and my social circle [...]
How To Be Creative is a theme that surfaces again and again when I sit down to write. Not because people flock to me asking, “Oh Beth, you creative wizard, will you please publish your wisdom?!” Nope, that’s not the spark that lights my blog-posting flame. Most of the time, my creativity-focused posts begin from a [...]
As 2022 drew to a close, several of my friends announced that they were stepping away from social media, at least until January. To detox from the digital noise, they chose to disconnect. Stepping away can be good practice for analog conversations, too. In tense situations, sometimes the best response is no response at all. Step [...]
Each holiday, my wife puts out HoliDog. This cute little bit of fluff gets gussied up depending on the holiday. Last month it was a pumpkin for Halloween. This month it will get a Santa's hat and a red bowtie. You know you're at our house when HoliDog greets you at the front door. I love seeing [...]
When Jill and I started our Story Mode program, we easily landed on our motto/tagline/hashtag: Refuse To Be Boring. This phrase is our “way.” It’s our constant reminder and also an apt description of how we think, act, talk, create, work, relate. It’s how we live. We spend so much time refusing to be boring, we [...]
The best writers--creative and business--understand the importance and power of time I’m waiting for the plumber to arrive. Ever since our revered plumber/friend Larry retired, our plumbing issues have either been ignored or a fix has been attempted by me. Never a good idea. There is mold making itself at home on the caulking around the [...]
“I thought it would be easy.” When Jill and I use this prompt as a warm-up exercise in our Story Mode workshops, the result is always a fascinating variety of struggle stories. After just three minutes of writing, participants share vivid scenes that range from heart-wrenching to hilarious. The loss of an aged pet. A first [...]
To know me is to understand that I procrastinate. Procrastination is part of my process. Especially my writing process. When I was in high school, this irritated my mother to no end. Seeing blank pages instead of a book report, she assumed I was wasting time. Doing nothing. Failing to take action. Not true, Mom. Not [...]
Several years ago, people were raving about the KonMari method of decluttering and organizing. Attempting to jump on the bandwagon, I bought The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and started reading. A few pages in, I bailed. Marie Kondo wanted me to touch every possession and ask, “Does it spark joy?” If not, that item must [...]
Podcasts are all the rage and they feel like one of those those pop culture things that I just don’t get. I’m not trying to be contrary; in fact I keep trying over and over again to find a podcast conversation that I really want to listen to. But to me, most of them are boring. [...]