Writing
I’m a writer in addition to being an editor and creative consultant, and I began being published when I was a young spoken word poet. Now I write and publish memoirs, travel and music stories, fiction, and meditation pieces. Click on any entry below or on older entry pages to read my work!
They Called Me Indiana Jones on the Black Sea and Han Solo in a Midwest Multiplex (Travel Memoir)
There are two times in my life when I had the honor and privilege to be compared to heroic, cinematic characters played by Harrison Ford. The first time was when I was dancing under the moonlight with a family of Turks at a party of belly dancers on a veranda...
When you’re quiet, you can hear the sounds of the world become a symphony.
Spending time in quiet places is very important for mental health. What's amazing is that when you are quiet, you notice how much music there is everywhere. As a musician, I know the difference between composing a song and the sounds all around me, but the longer I'm...
How I Became an American Ghost in the Czech Highlands (Memoir)
On my final day living in the Czech Highlands, yellow light from the train station hovered over the snow falling on the tracks. It was a cold December night, and my friends had kept me out drinking until the last train left Havlíčkův Brod at midnight. I found a car...
Put Down the Phone and Turn Off Your Screens (Essay)
How to take breaks from media, messaging, and the digital world This morning, I woke up, put on my robe, climbed slowly down the stairs, had my vitamins, and put a pot of coffee on. I did the dishes from the night before, cleaned the kitchen, prepared a cup of java,...
I believe that the best way to create is to let truth dance with myth.
The best creations come from the swirling dance between our personal stories and our mythological fantasies. We're all Dorothy in Oz, Frodo going to Mordor, and Luke Skywalker facing his father in the books we write, the movies we make, and everything we produce....
Tedium 6 – The Bartendress in the Center of Nowhere (Fiction)
Numbed and on edge after surviving the drive through a night of torrential rain, with lightning piercing through the dark like a strobe light in a throbbing dance club, Jarette had arrived in Middlegate, Nevada. A speck in the center of nowhere. My mind feels like...
Your life is a fascinating and heroic adventure.
It's 2023! What adventures do you have planned? What projects do you plan to produce? What creations are you going to unveil to the world? Every single person on the planet earth is the hero in their own story. Your life is an adventure completely unique to you. No...
Choose to be kind and refrain from anger.
It's the Holiday season for billions of people and the Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa are all approaching soon. It's a time for celebrations both spiritual and secular. It can be a time of great joy but also a time where people feel lonely,...
Our best stories and songs come from our own experiences.
Of all the stories and songs in the world, the greatest ones are true. Or, at least, mostly true. I believe that when people create using their own experiences, the work they make is the best. There is no better source of inspiration than your own life. I'm a...
The Blue-Eyed Woman from Hanoi (Travel Memoir)
I went to Vietnam to surf and was forgiven for a war. My knees were bent and nearly touching my stomach as I sat in a small, red plastic chair. I was dripping with sweat and sipping a beer on the curbside of a corner bia hoi in Hanoi, Vietnam. Feeling like a...