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A little while ago, I learned a new word: “Nomophobia.” According to the researchers at my alma mater, Iowa State University, it’s the fear of being without a mobile phone. (Gasp! A cold sweat just ran down my spine just thinking about it…) I’ll freely admit I suffer from this fear. If my left hand […]

5,500 words per week. That’s what my word count software tells me I’m writing on average. That’s around 250,000 words per year. You might not have that high of a number. But I’ll bet you write a lot more than you realize. Doesn’t it make sense to make sure all your writing is as good […]

From: Just west of the South Skunk River Monday, 6:30 a.m. “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”  — Jack London There once was a monk who entered a monastery and took a vow of silence: he’s allowed to say two words every seven years. After the first […]

More than twenty-five years ago, somewhere high above the Big Piney River in the Ozarks, I learned to see in the dark. I wasn’t stargazing. I wasn’t playing with night vision goggles. It wasn’t even ninja-training. I was in Army Basic Training on a five-day bivouac. Hiking six miles into the foothills and camping in […]

Years ago, I read a great article about the art of putting together a set of construction documents. (I wish I could still find it, but Google and I failed this time around…) Whatever. The point of the article was a quality set of drawings can influence the care a builder puts into the construction. […]