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Charlie is funny.

Charlie – age 7 – was arguing that two is a large number. “No, it’s not,” his big sister Clara shot back. I was going to counter with several examples. I’ve actually written a children’s picture book entitled “Two Is A Lot,” and it’s outstanding. In fact, it would be universally beloved IF I COULD…

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My little sister does a very big thing

Allow me to brag a little bit about my little sister, Kelli. For well over a decade, Kelli has been writing professionally. Like me, she has done other things while being paid to write – as do many writers – but recently, her writing career has reached a point where she can reliably make her…

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Speak Up Storytelling #87: Matthew Dicks

On episode #87 of the Speak Up Storytelling podcast, I analyzes his own story “Holding On By a Thread” in an episode we call Storytelling Forensics. This episode is dedicated to Elysha’s grandmother, Nana, who passed away on Sunday. Rest in peace, Nana. LINKS Purchase Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the…

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No more swing sets, please. Never again.

Last weekend Elysha and I saw Jagged Little Pill on Broadway, which I liked but did not love. A couple of terribly failed scenes, a wholly unnecessary plot line, and one big sledgehammer to the head of the audience at the end of the show spoiled it for me. The show did, however, feature one…

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Thank goodness for Mommy and Daddy

I despise legacy admission practices at colleges and universities. Frankly, I despise any practice in which a person is gifted the privilege of education, employment, or wealth simply because of who their parents happen to be. I’m looking at you, Donald Trump Jr. Thankfully, legacy admission practices are on the decline as colleges and universities…

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Simple and annoying

I spend much of Saturday walking around without a coat,. It was sunny with temperatures in the mid 40’s and a light breeze, but I had exercised earlier and was still running warm when I left the house, so no jacket or coat. Just a tee shirt. In the span of less than three hours,…

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My father’s situation was hard, too

A couple weeks ago, my wife, Elysha, asked for help from her friends on Facebook. She’s been struggling with the news coming out of Washington and beyond – specifically the racist, ignorant sex offender in the White House but other things, too – and wanted to know how her friends were coping. I had two…

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Write local

An analysis of the 100 books published since 1900 that most often appeared on best-of lists found that for 61 of the 100, the book was at least partly set in a place the author lived. Of the other 39 books, the average minimum distance between where the author once lived and where the book…

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So many questions. A few answers, then more questions.

The world is a strange and wondrous place. After more than 40 years on this planet, I can still find myself in places like this, waiting at a traffic light behind a truck like this with so many questions: What exactly does a plating company do? What the hell is passivate? Anodize? Chromate of aluminum?…

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