“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 […]
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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, […]
From Brokeass Writer to Businesswoman — Or, How I Lost My (Two Silk) Shirts, and Still Reached My Income Goal for June (And How You Can Too!)
Two silk shirts — one fiery red, the other dove grey with psychedelic blossoms edged in peach piping — gone. WTF? Last I saw them, they were laid out on a chair on the deck to make room for the cleaning lady. But the cleaning lady didn’t come. Apparently I’d gotten the day wrong. So […]
To Bore Is A Sin. Time for a Message Makeover! Take a Cue from Sultry Savannah
“It all started three years ago when I bought the angel,” says Toby. “The sculpted angel with wings that swept down to the floor.” I listen, rapt. I am in Savannah, Georgia, at the childhood home of author Flannery O’Connor — one of my writing idols. She died in 1964. “Strange things happened that […]
Systems Are Sexy! Structure Will Free Your Creativity, Buy You Time and Create Wealth
“Ma?” I knocked on my mother’s bedroom door. It was late afternoon in the early 70s. We lived in a cheap pre-fab duplex. My mother drank. We used food stamps for groceries. I was ashamed. But I was always ambitious. Even at 11. I worried my character was weak because I didn’t have to get […]
