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WRITING
The woodcutter who wouldn’t take my money
When we lived in Ireland, a neighbor advertised his wood-cutting services with a hand-painted sign along the road. He'd bring a cord of wood over, and instead of dumping it on the lawn and driving away like any self-respecting American contractor, he'd stack it in the...
The project from hell
Sometime back in May, Walt got it in his head that we should renovate our kitchen. Now, I should mention we'd bought this house sight unseen during the pandemic—intended as a home base for our trips back from Ireland, with Airbnb covering the mortgage the rest of the...
What I’m legally allowed to tell you about the 7 people living rent-free in my brain
People sometimes ask me what it's like to run a hybrid publishing house. The short answer? It's like being a professional eavesdropper who gets paid to learn everyone's secrets—except the secrets are actually really fascinating expertise, and instead of whispering...
How to lose a reader in 12 pages
Maybe you’ve heard it said that most readers never get beyond the first twelve pages of a book, particularly if it’s non-fiction. This supposed tendency is what drives the billion-dollar write-a-book-in-a-weekend industry. Become a published author. Have a book to...
READING
What I’m legally allowed to tell you about the 7 people living rent-free in my brain
People sometimes ask me what it's like to run a hybrid publishing house. The short answer? It's like being a professional eavesdropper who gets paid to learn everyone's secrets—except the secrets are actually really fascinating expertise, and instead of whispering...
What I read while waiting for a helicopter in Papua New Guinea
Let’s just say I had an awful lot of time on my hands while on vacation several years ago. That’s what happens when you deliberately leave your computer at home; AND you’ve got nowhere to go, save the local airstrip or the hotel compound; AND your helicopter can’t...
Eight Books, Eight Lessons: Why I’m Not Slowing Down
At my 60th birthday party a couple of years back, something interesting happened. A number of my friends started talking about retirement—counting down the days, making plans to "slow down," fantasizing about endless yoga retreats in Mexico and Netflix binges. They...
The Best Books of 2025: Holiday Reading Recommendations from Summit Press Authors
Every year around the holidays, I love pulling together book recommendations—and this year, I thought: who better to ask than published authors? After all, writers tend to be voracious readers who know their stuff. I asked some of our Summit Press authors to share...
LIFE
The woodcutter who wouldn’t take my money
When we lived in Ireland, a neighbor advertised his wood-cutting services with a hand-painted sign along the road. He'd bring a cord of wood over, and instead of dumping it on the lawn and driving away like any self-respecting American contractor, he'd stack it in the...
If it were easy, everybody would be doing it
Hey there, A while back, one of my friends questioned my penchant for voluntarily placing myself in situations where I could get hurt, for "manufacturing fear." The world provides enough danger already, why go out looking for more? She was referring to mountain...
Game recognize game
We once had a dog named Edgar whose whole raison d’etre was to kick cat ass. Unfortunately, we also had two cats: Peanut Butter and Mozart. Peanut Butter was a cat-hater’s cat. He had all the swagger of John Wayne, and the cool detachment of Humphrey Bogart. Tail up,...
Better the devil you know
I'm sitting here this morning listening to Walt in the other room. He's on a Zoom call with one of his clients, and apparently the guy is reluctant to try something new. He wants to cling to his old business habits because, as my mother used to say, "Better the devil...
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