michaeljarmer

Turning 60!

I’m writing on the occasion of my 60th birthday, December 4, 2024. We ascribe a special significance to those birthdays that begin a new decade. Something in us needs a marker, a milestone, a number with a zero at the end. We like that. I think it’s true that the last time I wrote aboutContinue reading “Turning 60!”

#545: How to Move Forward

Today I spent several hours moving the leaves around the yard.Our house is surrounded by gigantic oaks and every year we get absolutely buried. Because I can only afford to hiresomeone a few times a year, every November I begin the workof prepping for leaf removal by a great and laborious shifting. I blow leavesContinue reading “#545: How to Move Forward”

It’s Dark In Here

In his entire history on the planet, he could recall only one day that felt darker than this one, and that was September 11, 2001. He could tell you without hesitation the three darkest days of his life in chronological order: 9/11; the first Trump victory in 2016; and then yesterday, the second Trump victoryContinue reading “It’s Dark In Here”

NaNoWriMo 2024: Adjusting My Expectations

The point of any kind of forced creativity experience or challenge is to simply do the creative thing you want to be doing but perhaps wouldn’t be doing otherwise. I am all for it. I’ve done more than a decade worth of a poem every day in April, I’ve participated in songwriting challenges that resultedContinue reading “NaNoWriMo 2024: Adjusting My Expectations”

It’s National Novel Writing Month!

Here we are on the precipice of another year of attempting to write 50,000 words in a single month for the ritual of NaNoWriMo. This will be my third effort. I go into it this year with a bit of trepidation. I worry that the politics of the nation will be too much of aContinue reading “It’s National Novel Writing Month!”

O, The Humanity: The 2024 Election

I’ve been dreaming about Kamala Harris. Seriously. I’ve watched her speak so many times that I can almost sing along. As a result of this repetition, I can tell you about her policy plans with some amount of detail and specificity. $6,000 child tax credit. $25,000 assistance for first-time home buyers. New affordable housing construction.Continue reading “O, The Humanity: The 2024 Election”

I’m Thinking About Giving Up on Writing Fiction on the Cusp of Another NANOWRIMO

In both Novembers of 2022 and 2023 I wrote 50,000 words for the National Novel Writing Month challenge. The results were two sloppy, hastily written rough drafts of novels. I would expect nothing less from such a challenge, the purpose of which is not to write a masterpiece, but to spill out as quickly asContinue reading “I’m Thinking About Giving Up on Writing Fiction on the Cusp of Another NANOWRIMO”

Gone So Long, I Been Gone So Long

Sorry about that. I mean, I realize no one has been holding their breath, so the apology is mostly self-talk, or self-writing, as I think I do this blogging activity more as a personal practice and discipline than anything else. I don’t mean to imply that I am not mightily grateful for the readers IContinue reading “Gone So Long, I Been Gone So Long”

#544: Dear America, Happy 4th of July

I have startedto despise Bill Maher, but when he sayshe’d rather vote for Biden’s head in a jar than seeTrump in the White House, I’m with himagain. I hate this place, where we are, with this choice, but I know at leastthat Biden is agood man and I am confident he’ssurrounded by menand women whoareContinue reading “#544: Dear America, Happy 4th of July”

#543: On Being Turned Away from the Doctor’s Office for My Blood Pressure Checkup and How That Ultimately Raised My Blood Pressure

I was 15 minutes late. Actually, the truth of the matteris that I was not 15 minutes early. So they turned me away. I knew the expectation. They only sent me three or four reminders, but when your appointmentis for 7:30 a.m.,and you’re supposed to show up at 7:15,when you’re retired, and you want toContinue reading “#543: On Being Turned Away from the Doctor’s Office for My Blood Pressure Checkup and How That Ultimately Raised My Blood Pressure”