Monthly Archives: April 2026

#747: Marcus Aurelius, Redacted

Marcus Aurelius, Redacted Letting go, cling. Remember this fleetinginstant gone, or revealed. This mortal little thinglived in a corner; and little, too, is the longest dependentsuccession of fast-perishingselves, much less, long dead.  The source: Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book III, section 10 Letting go all else, cling to the following few truths. Remember that man lives only in the present, in this fleeting instant:Continue reading “#747: Marcus Aurelius, Redacted”

#745: The Dog Speaks of Cognition

You wonder what I’m thinking. When necessary, I try to be clearand you understand my cues. I need to eat or go outside. I want a walk. I need a snack, damn it. Those other dogspiss me off. I would really like to catch that squirrel. It’s during the down times, the quiet moments, whenContinue reading “#745: The Dog Speaks of Cognition”

#744: I Am No

I am no psychologist. I often find myself in my fictionwriting scenes in which characterssay, either out loud or as a thought, that they are no something or another. I am no psychologist. I can’t be using that phrase in every single book that I write. I am no historian. That would be like aContinue reading “#744: I Am No”

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program to Talk Some More About Publishing a Book in the Age of AI

And I thought it couldn’t get any weirder. Today, I received a cold email from a guy claiming to be a literary agent interested in my novella. He vaguely expressed interest in my work, saying that my book had come to his attention. He went on to say that his agency’s method was to earnContinue reading “We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Program to Talk Some More About Publishing a Book in the Age of AI”

#743: J is for Jackson, Kara

I can’t remember the last timeI was as hypnotized by a voice. Or the last time I fell in love withan album that was, ostensibly, folk. When Kara Jackson tours, I think, she’s just a singer with an acoustic. And while the songs are powerful delivered in this stripped down way,this record is sonically complex.Continue reading “#743: J is for Jackson, Kara”

#742: Political Jump Rope, April 7

In a dream the children were all jumping rope and skipping hopscotch while singing the following song,a song they had constructed, I’d guessed, from overheard snatches of their parents nightly conversations: “Donald Trump, Donald Trump, go away. In the dump, in the dump, you should stay. The 25th amendment, we should invokeI’d buy some shitContinue reading “#742: Political Jump Rope, April 7”

#741: J is for Jacklin, Julia

Somehow Joe Jackson snuck in frontof Julia Jacklin in the stacks. One of my favoriterecords of 2022, Julia Jacklin’s Pre-Pleasure is a mellow, moody mix of singer-songwriter goodness, smart, evocative, sometimes funnylyrics and Julia’s soft but rich singing voice.“Lydia Wears A Cross,” the album opener, is a vivid study of children in church and allContinue reading “#741: J is for Jacklin, Julia”

#740: The Post Office Guy Asks Me To Wait

I wait in line to shipnine paperback books to nine different addresses in the United States, media rate. The Post Office guy begins stamping and affixing bar code stickers and postage paid stickers on to my packages and he gets about threepackages in and he says to me, a line is starting to form andContinue reading “#740: The Post Office Guy Asks Me To Wait”

#739: J is for Jackson, Joe

At first, Joe Jackson struck meas the “other” Elvis Costello, and at the time, in my teens, I could not imagine needing another one. I was wrong aboutthat, of course, and I knew itas soon as Jackson released the big band album, Jumpin’Jive. He actually beat Costelloto the punch with the genrehopping. But this, NightContinue reading “#739: J is for Jackson, Joe”