Autobiography
My little girl is a storyteller
My family and I have been in Seattle for five days now, and it’s been quite the whirlwind. In addition to playing golf, walking beaches, eating delicious food, and visiting with friends and family, I have also been doing a bit of work. On Thursday, I had the pleasure of visiting with a book club…
Read MoreI don’t return stuff
I can count the number of things that I have purchased and then later returned in my entire life on two hands. Maybe one hand. I know that this makes me different from most people, but especially the Germans, who like to order stuff online and then return it at a rate unmatched by other…
Read More“They call me Matt” is apparently no good
At the very end of the song, “Light My Candle” from the Broadway musical Rent, Mimi and Roger exchange names. Roger sings, “I’m Roger.” Mimi responds, “They call me Mimi.” Driving in the car, listening to the song the other day, I turn to Elysha and say, “I’ve always wanted to introduce myself to people…
Read MoreI am not a monster
Over the weekend, friends and I were discussing a recent revelation on social media: There are couples in this world who do sleep on the same side of the bed every night. When someone on Twitter revealed this last week – obviously a monster – Twitter went crazy. People couldn’t imagine choosing random sides of…
Read MoreBizarre coincidences are not so bizarre when it comes to storytelling
This past weekend, one of my stories was rerun on The Moth Radio Hour. I’ve been fortunate enough to have eight stories appear on their show, and after every one, I am flooded by emails, tweets, and Facebook messages from listeners expressing words of appreciation. Storytelling audiences are the best. The story featured this week…
Read MoreI have no idea where my children get these ideas
During our visit to Massachusetts earlier this week, we stopped by John F. Kennedy Elementary School in Blackstone, which I attended in grades K-3. Our kids played on the same playground that I played as a kindergartener. We peaked into my old kindergarten classroom, played on some playground equipment that I played on as a…
Read MoreIt’s gone, and I couldn’t be happier.
Elysha, the kids, and I went on a nostalgic road trip to Massachusetts yesterday to visit many of the places where I grew up. This was partly to show my family the places that they have only heard about in stories, but it was also to help inform a memoir that I have been writing…
Read MoreToni Morrison helped me feel like I belonged.
As you probably know, Toni Morrison died this week. The world lost a literary giant. I read every one of Morrison’s novels – mostly in college – and they frightened the hell out of me. I remember finishing The Bluest Eye and thinking, “Damn I’m never going to be able to write a novel if…
Read MoreYou don’t know people
We live in bubbles, Sometimes we create them ourselves. Sometimes they are dictated by geography, profession, and other mitigating factors. Sometimes you’re not quite sure how your bubble even formed. For example, I don’t have any friends (or spouses of friends) who smoke, yet 14 percent of Americans smoke. This means that I have unknowingly…
Read MoreThat’s a lot of TV
In 2018, the average American spent 15 minutes per day reading for pleasure. As an author, I’m appalled. I think. If you read 15 minutes per day, that means you read 5,475 minutes per year. If you’re spending this time reading books, and it takes you about 10 hours to read your average book, that…
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