First, a true triumph:  yesterday and today, feeding Val and Clark’s cat Tula was easy and delightful.  The keys they gave me worked perfectly.  The food was exactly where it was supposed to be. And Tula –– whom I have known exclusively while cowering away from Belle at dinner parties –– was unbeliev...

Today, I found myself WAITING for either of my private client’s two secretaries to call me back about a lesson, but decided to take the leap of faith and just charge out to Oakland for lunch with Amy Ahlers. Amy has become a real friend this fall, which is remarkable given that her book launch happen...

‘Tis the season, as they say –– but I find myself having trouble just giving it away … and I’m talking about copies of my newest book, UPWARD DOG. For my previous five books, I had traditional publishers and they would mail you the author’s pre-negotiated box of books on schedule.  ...

One of the nice things about this blog is that I’ve continually resisted any widgets or what-have-yous that count readers and hits and that sort of thing. In fact, the default column I see while editing each post tells me exactly how many readers have looked at each entry:  0. Now, I know this isn...

What’s that William Blake line again: What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? (I guess things rhymed differently back then). Nonetheless, today brought such amazing “fearful symmetry” (well, more like impressive/fearful) that again, I marvel at the Universe’s sens...

Anyone who knows me, knows I love cupcakes. Directly underneath my writing office there’s a tiny storefront –– not even that really, it’s like a booth with two shutters –– which seems to have no set hours and which sells ONLY cupcakes.  (And I mean the “only” as “exclusively&#...

During my seemingly endless computer crises yesterday, I was constantly reminded of Mercury Retrograde and how this is supposedly a better time to edit and refine rather than initiate.  All those computer glitches reminded me to back up, delete files, and INCREASE ONE’S BANDWIDTH. I’m not sure ...

Well, not really. Just my email. All of my correspondence, in fact, from the last two years is downloading AGAIN on my computer. I don’t know why, but I currently have 18,000 unread emails. Perhaps I scoffed at Mercury Retrograde one too many times, but this is the final touch today. I woke to get an...

I really like this picture I took today of Belle on our beach walk — it feels very lunar voyage.  More about that tomorrow. I also love the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  It feels like the most chill day of the year. Morning skyping to India to get the Facebook page revved up for UPWARD DOG. Email f...