It’s true. If you don’t know Jack, you don’t know jack, at least in Hampden. You can’t see it clearly in this picture, but this guy wears a plastic nose pin on his hat with rubbery tentacle-like appendages that have a life of their own every time he makes the slightest movement. He sports a plethora of other amusing pins and buttons as well, the nose just happens to be my favorite. I see him on an almost daily basis while in Baltimore. The guy is everywhere and knows every true local (which I’m not because I was not born and bred here). You can tell a native Hampdenite from five blocks away.
This week seems lost in a black hole. I reverted to a lot of pesky habits like coffee, wine, beer, and bars (see photo above taken by Steve). I can’t help it if I do my best brainstorming in these establishments! Actually, I can help it and by Friday it was glaringly apparent that I cannot keep up this lifestyle any longer. I kind of felt the way my Secretary, Thomas, is acting in the snapshot above. But, with the help of Steve, I built a foundation sturdy enough to plunge forward with the novel. I think it’s time to get back into a writing routine. I’m not going to feel guilty for putting down The Writer’s Way for the past month, leaving my morning pages blank, and writing only when I felt like it, because maybe I just needed a break from that structure.
Luckily, I’m craving that structure again. So, I’m going to pull out my calculator tonight and do the pointless (but critical) words-per-night math. We’re back in business! I’m off to Woodstock tomorrow and I’ll be listening to The Time Traveler’s Wife the entire way:)
ps- Steve’s band, The Sweatshop Boys, are going on tour in October! Details coming soon…
pps- Steve’s other band, Freeminer Birds, are playing at Boulder in Rochester, NY on 9/12!
I found my center, my purpose, and my heart through writing and I’m here to help you do the same. I work with entrepreneurs, authors, academics, and other driven individuals to help them find their voice on the page. 
