Tag Archives: Writing

P.S. 2023

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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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P.S. 2022

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This post is the annual update of my writing career, such as it is.

I am exhausted. After a couple years of waiting in limbo, the doors of opportunity opened. 2022 was the year of small business development, poetry, travel, and caregiving. Throw in my day job and there’s my whole life.

Poetry

I attended the Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference at Bemidji State University on June 20-26, 2022. This is an excellent writing retreat on the shores of beautiful Lake Bemidji. As an attendee of one of the writing workshops, it was full immersion in the craft from 7am to 9pm for a full week. I never wanted to come home.

I was honored to emcee the League of Minnesota Poets Fall Conference awards gala at Arrowwood Resort in Alexandria, MN on November 4-6, 2022. My balcony faced Lake Darling and I watched a flock of ducks lift off in the lake in the thin colors before sunrise my last morning there.

Four of my poems were published before life got ahold of me and I paused submissions:

4/10/22- 1st grade report card note: “Too much daydreaming” with Lyricality.org

04/27/22- Let Us Consider was one of six winners of the Environmental (In)justice in Mni Sóta Maḳoce Storytelling Contest, sponsored by Saint Paul Almanac and University of St. Thomas Sustainable Communities Partnership.

6/28/22 Lace & Half-Naked in the Depths of Winter with Spring Thaw, Itasca Community College

You can say that I should make time, make submitting my work for publication a priority and you’d be right. But it turns out traveling, running a small business, being a caregiver, having a career, and actually writing takes a whole lot of time.

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P.S. 2021

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This post is the annual update of my writing career, such as it is.

2021 was a lost year: COVID-19, political strife, shipping crisis, etc. It was one of the roughest for me personally, mostly due to helping two loved ones- my friend Jenny and my brother Steve-  through major medical issues that nearly claimed their lives. They are both disabled persons and I serve as caregiver with power of attorney for both. I recently became certified as a PCA because why the hell not.

But even though 2021 was ‘lost’, much like 2020, I still managed to accomplish a lot.

Blogging

My last blog post was on March 21, 2021, shortly after Jenny went through another series of abdominal surgeries which she survived but with such extreme complications that her quality of life is greatly diminished. I have used my blog to keep friends and family updated on the status of these medical crises, but I just stopped abruptly.

These blog posts take a lot of effort to put together and the strain of my life made it not reasonable anymore. Maybe I should have kept it up for posterity or because I had blogged weekly for years, but I just was no longer able to devote the time. It’s all recorded in my journals.

Still, I made nine blog posts and had about 914 views, for whatever that’s worth. Personal blogs with meandering topics are not popular. Continue reading →

Back to School

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August is a time of great anticipation and apprehension as summer comes to an end. Parents are excited and children who are young enough not to know better are excited too. I must admit that August still has the refreshing feel of new beginnings for me- new books, new supplies, new teachers. It was ever green hope that the new school year would somehow be better, be different.

New Year’s Day has this same quality, a ritual celebration to compartmentalize last year’s events and memories, to put it away in favor of new beginnings. By the way, how are those resolutions coming along? I consider it a time to adjust and recommit to goals I was already working on, not make new ones. And one of those goals is to become a better writer.

January is also ‘back to school’ time, though most students are still reeling from the fall semester. For many, the spring semester is just the continuation of the academic year that they have to slog through to get to summer break. But consider that there are freshmen who start college late or high school seniors who start early. For them it is new and exciting. Consider the so-called ‘non-traditional’ student who is over age 40, who might be living up to that New Year’s resolution to finish their education or start a new career.

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P.S. 2020

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This post is the annual update of my writing career, such as it is.

I published a book in October 2020.

Book of Snark: Wit & Wisdom for the Angry Professional Woman on the Bus– A laugh out loud parody of motivational self-help books, a collection of pointed anti-affirmation satire, quips that describe the day-to-day life of an unimpressed, middle aged female professional, who does not suffer fools.

It’s self-published so not such a big deal. Anyone who can pull together a script and slap a halfway decent cover on it can be a published author these days because print-on-demand services do not check for worthiness of content. My market is so niche’ I didn’t believe that any publishing house would consider it. It wouldn’t make them enough money to be worth their time. Still, by all accounts it has done well. I sold 142 copies in the first three months and since 300 copies in the first year is considered success, I am almost halfway there.

But I promoted it. A lot. I am completely unknown and people are suspicious of independent authors for the reasons listed above (no check on worthiness). I paid for ads that showed my book to potential buyers 183,000+ times, at Christmas, and I sold 142 copies. *SIGH* Good thing that I am in it for the long haul. Book of Snark 1 will continue to sell and Book of Snark 2 is already in the works. I have eight text reviews on Amazon and six text reviews on Goodreads, all good and not all from my friends and family. I even garnered a ‘drive-by’ anonymous 1-star rating without an associated text review on Amazon by whoever or whatever and a lovely text review on Goodreads from book blogger, Amie’s Book Reviews in Toronto, who said the book “will appeal to anyone and everyone who likes British humor”.

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Book of Snark: Book Reviews

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“Tension Mounts put together a wonderfully charming book that I felt validated many of my thoughts. I read this while my toddler was sleeping right next to me, and I am so glad my outbursts of random laughter did not wake her up! If you want to laugh and feel like you are sitting next to your wise but ornery Great Aunt Molly, this is the book for you!” -Laurie on goodreads.com

That is the first review of Book of Snark I have received by someone I am certain is a stranger. And I can not tell you what a thrill it is for me that my book makes its readers laugh out loud. Several friends have kindly texted me to tell me that they laughed while reading it, but now I have confirmation that it is not just my current fanbase who enjoys it. The book is finding its audience out in the wild.

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Turn the Page

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And so, my first ‘Book of Snark’ is published and spreading across the country. Most of my immediate fanbase has bought it. I hope they get a chuckle. Now the book faces the real test of the open market- which is flooded and has an ever-shrinking audience of readers. It will succeed or fail based on its own merit and how much suppression of organic reach FaceBook can muster. The book probably won’t win any awards or change the world, but I believe in its quality and value.

And frankly, in this year of 2020 we could all use a laugh. Continue reading →

Book of Snark: Live!

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Join me at 1pm Central for my Facebook Live Launch of the Book of Snark!

Book of Snark, a collection of anti-affirmation feminist satire, a parody of motivational self-help books, pages of punchlines that describe the day to day life of an unimpressed, middle aged female professional, who commutes by bus.

This is my first published work of satire. The launch date is set for October 10, 2020. BYOB. This FB event categorizes it as ‘literature’ but it lies. Seek works of literary merit elsewhere.

Order your signed copy from my Square site (USA only)
–OR–
Order your copy from Amazon.com starting 10-10-2020

Book of Snark: Launch

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Coming 10-10-20- Book of Snark LIVE!

Book of Snark is a collection of anti-affirmation feminist satire, a parody of motivational self-help books, pages of punchlines that describe the day to day life of an unimpressed, middle aged female professional, who commutes by bus. This is my first published work of satire. The launch date is set for October 10, 2020.

Now, book launches might be considered book promotion but really, especially for independent authors, it’s an excuse to have a party. A ‘birthday party’ for the ‘book baby’, a term I despise almost as much as ‘fur baby’, but both still less annoying than a dog in a dress.

Anyway, the book does deserve some kind of celebration, some kind of recognition for the years spent agonizing over it, to finally set it free in the world to do whatever work it was meant to do. Or at least whatever work it can do in the age of marketing saturation and active suppression of organic reach.

What, me cynical?

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Book of Snark: Sneak Preview

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Book of Snark is my first published work of satire.

It is a collection of anti-affirmation feminist satire. It is a parody of motivational self-help books, pages of punchlines that describe the day to day life of an unimpressed, middle aged female professional, who commutes by bus.

Book of Snark will be published October of 2020 on Amazon.

Here’s a sneak preview of chapter 1:

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