In light of new responsibilities associated with the upcoming release of my debut novel, DawnSinger, I’m in the process of downsizing and reordering my schedule. It’s coming together much better than I thought it would.

Writers have a reputation for being angst-ridden and moody. We do our best to produce, build a platform and promote our work, at least if we want to survive in the marketplace, but most writers are artists first and business persons a distant second. We try not to…

Whatever you do in life, let it come from the heart.

Are you snoring yet? Not that this piece of advice isn’t valuable, but haven’t we all heard it a thousand times? So many times, in fact, that our eyes glaze when someone trots it out. Let’s tell the truth here. We’re among friends.

I’ve declared war. That’s right. I’m not going to take it anymore.

It started with my finger on the…

Those who have trouble saying “no” to others have never really said “yes” to themselves. It’s possible to be so far out of touch with your own existence you don’t even pause long enough to wonder if you’re doing the right thing.

Don’t sidetrack your goals by…

Photo credit: xandert from morguefile.com

Promoting a book is a lot like planning a wedding. It takes patience and time. If you try to rush right in at the last minute and make things happen, the odds are you’ll end up with a mess. It’s best to set a budget and specific, attainable goals well in advance. To actually achieve them, you have to work away at your goals, bit by bit. Even then, you have no guarantee things will go as planned.

This week I passed up two opportunities to strengthen friendships. I must not become so busy I forget to love others. Those opportunities will never come again in the same way. I told myself I’ll find other chances to visit with my friends, but, when I stop to think about it, I have no certainty of that.
Life is but a vapor. Why do I forget to remember that in the daily grind of life?

A “new disease.” That’s the term vocal students in my college attached to a particular, and distressing, affliction we all suffered at one time or another. It happened whenever one of our voice teachers added a new technique to the already-long list of “Things to Think About While Singing.” It seemed that concentrating on posture, support, breath control, placement, pitch, duration, dynamics, phrasing, tempo and oh yes — the words to sing — was not enough. It also became necessary to regulate emotion. Too much and we risked ruining the pitch. Too little and we came across as automatons — brilliant but lifeless.