“Everyone knows if you want to torch old scaffolding, you travel solo. I am here for internal arson. Don’t touch me.” Somebody wasn’t in the best frame of mind! Ah, holidays. Perhaps you can relate. I was also younger and wildly unhappy at the time. Above is the pull quote from a story I wrote […]
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Blue Flame Boogie: Hell Yeah You Have a Signature Story! And It’s the Key To Your Success!
“My mother cried over all the men in her life. I am in the Blue Flame. a dive bar in Onset, Massachusetts, carefully folding a dollar bill. This bar’s okay because the bartender’s nice and there’s a good jukebox. Right now it’s playing ‘Fire’ by the Ohio Players, which is one of the first […]
Holy Terrors! Why Finding Your Voice Will Unleash Your Success
Holy Terrors! This was the name of the Episcopal church volleyball team I played on after high school in Sylacauga, Alabama. Population 10,000 — with over a hundred churches. Jim Nabors’s home town. Remember “The Andy Griffith Show”? Golly! I chose the name. The team agreed. The church agreed! We had T-shirts made. God […]
Manhunting in Tahiti, or, How To Find Your Why
“In Bora Bora, even the fish look like sperm.” The year is 2006. I travel to Tahiti with my writer friend — let us call her Beth — she to get a tattoo, me to find a sperm donor. Beth is shaken and sad, recovering from an abortion. She is young, her current relationship is […]
Do You Wear A Psychic Fat Suit? How To Drop The Mask & Emotionally Engage With Your Clients & The World
“You’ve got a psychic fat suit.” The man — whose name might be George — nods to himself. Pleased. As if he’s caught a rare moth and nailed it to the specimen board. “You’re impossible to connect with.” We are walking down Venice boardwalk, me and my two friends. It’s years ago. Over a […]
Cafe Gratitude: From the Shame of Sadness to Claiming Your Voice for Page and Stage
I’m sad. This feels shameful to write. Or stupid. Or daring — maybe not in a good way. Don’t write until you’re happy again. You don’t want to bum people out, says my brain. Eat some pistachio ice cream. Shout the lyrics to an Eminem song. Stand on your head. Something. Plus, the brain […]
“Doug Dirt” Proves the Power & Fascination of Personal Narrative — If You’re Not Using It in Business, You’re Missing Out!
So I stumble into the Skinny Kitty Tea Lounge around 8am after staying out all night the night before. Today is Sunday. That means yesterday was Saturday. I am at Burning Man, Unplugged…And I’ve Never Been Happier I am at Burning Man. It is the first of September. For one week, 68,000 plus people […]
Are You Radically Self-Reliant? Burning Man is Good for the Body, Soul…& Business
“Hey! Get off the Esplanade!” Right by my window, up pops a guy wearing goggles, a T-shirt, and a tutu — sans tights. Blue neon wrapped haywire around his torso. He raps his knuckles against my truck door. He’s coated in fine white dust. Like an angel. Or a corpse. Maybe a cop-corpse. I think […]
Breaking Bad in Business — When Is Sharing Your Personal Stories TMI, And When Is It Solid Gold? The Key’s in Self Pity v. Self Awareness
“Rachel, are we supposed to feel sorry for you?” Now substitute your name for mine. How’d you like to get a comment like that? Would it freak you out? This was printed in the Los Angeles Times Book Review in a scathing review of my first book, Go West Young F*cked-Up Chick. What softened the […]
Coffee-Splashed & Pantless: How To Start Your Day Over For Surefire Success
The screen door snaps against my arm, I stumble on the welcome mat, and the fresh coffee I carry splatters…all over my T-shirt, jeans, fur(fake!)-lined slippers, the deck, even the plants. All of it. That’s how my day starts. I’m PISSED! I decide I need some makeup to handle the day better. Into the bathroom, […]
