The Escape Hatch

This is the second of a two-part post.  Last week’s post was titled “You Can’t Do It Yourself.”  Yeah, I suppose I can see the irony in that. But in reality, what I’m talking about isn’t as much at odds with my prior post as one might assume.  Last week, I talked about needing friends [...]

I was recently asked, as an exercise, to envision “a day in the life of me,” 10 years from now.  Sounds easy and fun, right?  It was meant to be.  But oh lordy was it difficult. My first instinct was to FREAK OUT.  I don’t know what I want!  I don’t know where I’ll want [...]

This is the first of a two-part post.  Next week’s post will be titled “Do It Yourself.”  Probably the first in a string of deliberately infuriating contradictions in which I take particular delight. Last week was the final round of the stand-up contest that I wrote about previously.  From an initial pool of about 70 [...]

I don’t write a lot of short stories or magazine articles – mainly novels.  So each time I put myself and my work out there, I’m basically putting a ton of eggs in a very small basket. It’s been a long time since I regularly submitted my writing for publication.  I’ve never been very good [...]

Making decisions has always been tough for me.  I’m a very analytical person; I see all sides of a debate and I weigh my options thoroughly.  Whatever the decision is, I ask as many people as I can, I make pro and con lists, I can’t turn my brain off at night as it weighs [...]

I know what you’re thinking.  You can’t ‘make’ inspiration.  That goes against the very meaning of the word.  By definition, inspiration has to arrive organically and without design. Au contraire, mon ami. One week ago today (as of the writing of this post), I lay in bed for hours on end, my mind in a [...]

I had a breakthrough last week. I realized that I have a set of perceived limits, leading me to imagine what I can and cannot do. I know what is reasonable for me, being able to visualize myself already doing what I have planned. If my plan is to produce a certain amount of artwork [...]

Last night was the reason I’m in L.A.  It’s the reason I do what I do, the reason I left my day job, the reason I put up with all the heartache, the rejection, the closed doors. I performed my stand-up routine at a comedy club for the first time.  It went better than I [...]

I am a planner.  It’s in my nature.  I get a sense of security out of planning; I like to feel that I’m in control and I hold my future in my own hands.  I’m good at planning.  I like to imagine what’s ahead of me and I can spend hours online doing research.  Although [...]

I have always had the worst case of stage fright.  This usually shocks the hell out of most people who know me, especially those who have seen me perform in front of large groups or audiences in the past.  But the fact is that I’m petrified up there.  Always have been.  I just try my [...]