This post is the annual update of my writing career.

“This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.

Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” -George Bernard Shaw

Big Stories of 2023:

My friend Jenny survived her two-year medical crisis thanks to a miracle surgery at Mayo Clinic on March 1, 2023. My last five blog posts chronicle that journey. It marks the end of three years in which I served as caregiver for the dying.

What a sweet end to those terrible years. My mother died, my brother died, but Jenny lived. In April 2023, when she was finally able to go home, I felt free to get back to my life. She is still recovering. There are residual complications in the form of retaining water in her lungs and chest from not being able to absorb enough protein. They found a heart condition that had been lurking unnoticed since 2017. But all of that is being managed and it’s a long way from the nightmare she was living before surgery.

Loren Niemi and I signed a lease for the brick and mortar location of the American School of Storytelling at 1762 Hennepin Ave S, Minneapolis, MN on June 1. We opened our doors on August 18, 2023. This is a big leap for the business we started online in 2021.

I transferred all that caregiving time and energy into the American School of Storytelling. It’s not a bad gig to stand in the back and see every show and workshop for free. But it was an unrelenting schedule and I found I was not able to enjoy events as much as I hoped because they ran up against other obligations. I like to savor experiences but was often tired from work and travel. Still, I’d do it again. I will do it again. We start our 2024 run tomorrow.

Between and because of these two events, I was on the road 91 days… I was physically traveling cross-country or away from home some portion of the day for three full months of 2023. That isn’t to say I didn’t get to have some fun and vacation time… Mexico, Colorado, Chicago…

I work a lot but I know how lucky I am that I have a life that allows me to cram all this stuff into it.

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