My Substack

I need a sabbatical. I didn’t know that was the word I’d been searching for until I talked to my neighbor, a Lutheran minister. Our kids are friends, and we were all at a community event Saturday night. I asked him how the ministering business was…

Six summers ago, I had an assignment from Midwest Living to scout some state parks in Ohio. The last morning of my trip, it was storming. Torrential quality stuff. I wanted to be done already (I had a one-year-old at home waiting for me), but I had one…

Last week was “show week”: the culmination of a three-month corporate scriptwriting project. I arrived in Chicago (the site of the show), ready for anything. I’ve written enough of these shows now to know that anything can happen. (Anything!)…

I’ve known for some time that I wanted to write this newsletter. Three years perhaps. I had to wait until my rage against Charlie had faded. To be clear, Charlie is a lovely man. Every time I’ve seen him, I’ve smiled, said “Hey Charlie,” and…

Last week, during a storm, lightning struck the power sub-station just a few blocks away. At the time, I didn’t know that had happened. I just knew that our power flickered strongly. When it came back on, I noticed that the fan in my office was running…