In defense of the mundane

I recently put together an anthology about single pieces of advice that changed people’s lives—real stories from real people about those small inflection points that shift everything. When it came time to promote the book, I asked the contributing authors to...

If you don’t know me, this will sum me up

Several years back, I had the privilege of being interviewed by Denise Brown for a column she writes in the North Star Monthly, a New Hampshire publication.  I thought I might share an excerpt of it with you here. It’ll give you some of my philosophy and background,...

Let’s discuss my feet

I’m guessing you’re here because you’re interested in writing and/or publishing books. Bear with me for a moment while I seemingly deviate from the topic… Every once in a while, Walt gets it in his head that we need to climb another mountain....

Haters are going to hate

I was 26 the first time I realized that what people thought about me had more to do with them than with who I was/am as a person. Such an epiphany should have freed me; unfortunately, it didn’t. When I’d first moved to Iran, I wanted two things more than...

The silliest thing that changed my life

I got to thinking about this bike rack I refused to buy because it looked like way too much bother. Anything that requires me to read a user’s manual, well, I I just don’t need it badly enough. Yet, if I hadn’t been nagged to death to buy the damn...

The best piece of advice I ever received

A long time ago, when I was selling photo copiers for a living, I met an older woman who gave me a piece of advice I’ll never forget. “Darling,” she said, smoothing back her hair with steady hands, “there’s a time and a place for everything. You can’t do it all...