Child Of The Fifties

Talking to a stranger who became a friend.

I will call him Bud; he is the owner of the mechanic shop where I take our cars to be serviced. After several visits and discussions, I learned we had a somewhat parallel life journey. Bud is a year older than me.

He shared with me, he and his wife will celebrate fifty-one years of marriage later this year and have a daughter 51-year-old. They married months after they found out she was pregnant. Bud and his wife had a second child, a boy. Named after his father, grandfather, and grandfather. All four family members have different middle names.

I…

Julie I was in high school when I decided that Roger Skibowski was my alter ego/pen name. Not knowing then that I would have a reason for a pen name. Having a pen name for me creates a unique internet identity. Googling Roger Skibowski returns only me, the same for Zulie Rane. That is the way I like. sounds like that is working for you too. Thanks for you help in the past. :-)

In the beginning

I did not magically think being a writer was something I wanted to be when I was a small child or a teenager, or even when I arrived at adulthood.

For me, it happened much later in life, after I retired. I was not searching for this calling or life direction. Writing found me. It simply happened one day.

Writing was never one of my strong points. Both English and History were not my strong subjects in school.

Writing reviews for my team during my employment was painful. I procrastinated writing the reviews by starting at the last moment before…

I too prefer articles that give small digestible nuggets.

This Writer’s Journey

I Am Building My Thing Not Knowing What the Final Version Will Look Like.

After reading one of Sean Kerman’s article, it inspired me to write this article.

Here is the nugget I received from the article,

“Quantity becomes its own form of quality.” Sean Kernan.

I need to write more to increase my quality, and I will.

To date, after publishing this article, I will have sixty-five published articles.

This writer’s journey differs from many in that I started thinking about writing later in life, in early 2011. Later in the year I would be 59. Most writers discover their desire for writing early in life. I have read many stories of those starting as early as 6 years old. …

You have to do the time if you want the reward. I know I am a work in progress.

This Writer’s Journey

The magic of this plan is in the execution. If you publish it, they will come.

The first step is important, but not without each succeeding step following close behind. The part that most of us forget is step five.

1. Write

In the beginning spend your time writing only and leave out the editing. Stay focused on the job of flowing what is in your mind onto the page one word, then the sentence comes. Couple of sentences and you get to the paragraph part of the journey. Getting to the next paragraph is now your next assignment. Turn the critic in your brain to off or mute for the time being, so all your thought juices…

Walking the dog

Daily walks with the dog through the neighborhood I will engage neighbors in conversation.

Depending on what they are doing the conversations can be as simple as “hello.” Other topics that open communication “How long have you lived here?”

The Loving Couple

This article I wrote about the walk where Greg told me about one of his next-door neighbors, where the lady’s husband had passed years ago, and Greg helped her with basic home maintenance.

On another walk I met her, and we chatted. Prior to the meeting, I had been waving to her frequently while she was walking her dog and I was arriving home in the car.

The Tree Climber

Yesterday while…