Sophie, Lena, Sinead, Annie, Geena, Max, Josa, Luis, Mason & Luke.

Bob shows off the Fillmore.

Walker, Sacco, Kim, Margo, Jenny & Me.

Writing Sucks, or Does It?

At some point this summer I quit writing. I made a formal announcement and then I cleaned out all my folders and book shelves and boxes and tossed bales of stuff. This is a short explanation of a big complicated thing that's hard to simplify for a holiday newsletter but it just got to a point where I hated everything about writing. I dreaded the thought of it. I'd that feeling in the pit of my stomach that you get when you have to get a root canal or confess something really bad you did. It got so that I could not enjoy anything in my life while I was thinking about writing.

Quitting was simultaneously heart-breaking and liberating. Now what do I do? I took a Photoshop class. I got my hands on a sewing machine. I made lists of all kinds of things I never did because I was conditioned to reserve my free time for writing. It took several weeks before I could even think about free time and not feel weird about writing or not writing.

But then something funny happened. I had a writers group that has met at my house for a couple of years and after waffling back and forth about it, I finally decided to end it. At our final meeting we ended up talking about this story idea I had had awhile back and I started telling stories and they were asking questions and I was getting all animated and suddenly I said: you tricked me, you're getting me excited about writing again.

By the time I closed the door at the end of the meeting, I could think about writing without dread. I'm taking notes. I'm doing research. Baby steps. But there's another novel in me. I know it.

The State Rock of Colorado is Yule Marble

In the Spring we did a weekend trip to Denver to do two nights of String Cheese Incident. This was my second choice for Spring Break. I was rooting for a deck chair by a pool in Cabo with a guy in a thong bringing me margaritas. But two nights in a room jam-packed with hippies was um, almost as good.

We arrived in Denver and met our friend Walker and cruised into town, ready for adventure. We found a pub with hearty food and refreshing adult beverages and thus fortified, we headed to the first show at the famous Denver Fillmore. It's a wonderful room with lots of bars and plenty of space. We were able to sit in a bleacher type area behind the stage and look down on the stage. The first night Perry Farrell DJ'd for the opening act and later he played Jane's Addiction songs with Cheese which was a huge highlight for me. The 2nd night Del McCoury's band played (w/o Del) which was the selling point for me in the first place. If you want details, I'm sure Bob would love to chat with you.

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