A Screaming Goat Wins Four Grammy Awards (1/3)
I grew up one block away from Shakira.
Okay, let me clarify this: Shakira didn't grow up there. But I grew up a block from where Shakira bought an entire apartment building for her parents.
The building and the block it was on remained empty most of...
Shortcuts to mine, discover and edit your stories
The definitions below do not come from a textbook. They are the definitions of the types of stories I have developed for my craft.Â
When I'm editing or even brainstorming, it helps me understand what kind of story I'm working with.Â
Here are the f...
I am a sucker for a get-rich-quick scheme (3/3)
There I was, a brand new immigrant, newly arrived in California, ready to consume all the information to get me started on the oh-so-American path from rags to riches.
The seminar organizers were prepared to give me even more than I had bargained f...
I am a sucker for a get-rich-quick scheme
The stranger made a beeline for my wife and me through the sea of Christmas shoppers, drowning in the desperation to find the perfect last-minute gift in Walnut Creek's open-air mall, Broadway Plaza.
"Wow, you have an amazing smile!" He said.
"Here we go...
I am a sucker for a get-rich-quick scheme (2/3)
Jamal came by on the day of our meeting. He knocked on the door, and I let him in.
The person who walked into my living room was a stranger in my friend's body who asked me, "Can any of your knives cut through a Coca-Cola can?"
I felt silly admittin...
I am a sucker for a get-rich-quick scheme (1/3)
The stranger made a beeline for my wife and me through the sea of Christmas shoppers, drowning in the desperation to find the perfect last-minute gift in Walnut Creek's open-air mall, Broadway Plaza.
"Wow, you have an amazing smile!" He said.
"Here ...
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Note to readers: Last week, I sent you an email with a link to this blog post. The link was broken. Moving forward, I will send my blog posts inside the newsletter. You can still find them on my website, but I wanted to include the entire body of the message of the email so you don't have to c...
My mom’s gift of gab convinced me to wear girly roller skates (3/3)
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All adults in the city break away for a few hours at noon to head home for lunch.
My mom would make it home for lunch, but we lived on the fourth floor of a four-floor building—the exact floor limit to avoid building an elevato...
My mom’s gift of gab convinced me to wear girly roller skates (2/3)
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And my mom has "labia" in spades.
So, I might've had the discerning power to know that the beef round didn't taste in any way like a burger, but I believed her when she told me that our roller skates were unisex.
If anyone even...
My mom’s gift of gab convinced me to wear girly roller skates (1/3)
When I was 12, my mom got a pair of roller skates as a gift from a friend who had returned from Miami.
The boot was a bright white, two wheels were magenta, and the other two were fuchsia.
Rollerblades had been on my list of "Mo...
Or how simple parenting acts can drive you insane (3/3)
Eventually, my daughter gave in and let us brush her hair. Instead of the five minutes we thought it would take, it took forty-five minutes.
Sure, forty-five minutes is better than sixty minutes, but the fifteen minutes savings came at a co...
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 In college, I competed in college forensics, a weird word for debate and not a competition to figure out blood splatter patterns.
But to travel with the team, you needed to have other events you competed on. I did after-dinner speeches and impromptu speaking. When you watch an Impromptu compe...
