Writing Process is Cool

If you're an artist - painter, writer, designer, creator of any kind - you can be in the starkest place - like a dank, dark railroad station - and still be inspired.


The hardest part about writing is finding your own voice. You've done the homework, researched the background of the story, interviewed the central figure. The next part is the hardest. Taking a step back and processing all of it so you can tell the story in your own words.

Cool Interviews … Connecting to myself

The best part of writing articles for a local magazine is that moment when I arrive. And even though I may have driven by the location many times, this is the moment of discovery – new place/new person. Park the car, turn the ignition, open and close the driver’s door, step out, take that first step.

And experience this place for the first time in this way. As an observer, an absorber, an eventually a storyteller.

What jewel will I find within the walls? What gem of wisdom will I hear from my interviewee?

Recently, when I interviewed a dance instructor, something she said struck a chord with me – the arts are about making a connection … to myself. Maybe that’s why I write. To stay connect to me.

To my reactions, my impressions, my experience. What resonates with my life.

Cool Delicious Weather

It’s the kind of weather my first mother-in-law called “delicious.”

And that description fits today perfectly. The weather smells clean. Walk or stand in the midst of it. Look at the clear sky. Feel the gentle breeze. Even open your mouth and breathe in the fresh cool weather.

There's a line from my favorite show of all time - HBO's In Treatment - where an older actor is looking outside and says something about it being spring. And the lead actor, Gabriel Byrne, says: "It's a wonderful feeling when the winter finally breaks."

Cool Running

Running on country roads at 5:30 a.m. How cool! When I started running three decades ago, my goal was to run in as many different states as possible. At the time, I was newly married and we lived in Portland Oregon and would make the long trek to family in Chicago a couple of time each year. That gave me plenty of opportunity to run in the states between here and there.

These days, I'm pretty settled in a small town in the heart of lower Michigan. I have a desk job that doesn't give me much time to run outdoors in the winter. But it's June 1 and alas the light started peeking out of the sky around 5:25, so I grabbed at the chance, put on my running shoes and was off.

It was remarkable. A slight breeze and I was well rested so at the top of my game today.

Cool Kids

I didn’t start out being cool. I became Cool 11 years ago when I married my husband, a great guy with just the right combination of rugged and sensitive sides. He’s a true Cool.

I have two children with my ex-husband and to my utter amazement, they’re both talented musicians and performers. Very unlike me. They were Cool long before I was!

Aside from their stage personas, they’re both cool in very distinct ways. My younger, Ana, is artistic. Whether it’s home decorating, fashion, or gourmet cooking, she has a great style. She’s also an avid book reader – belonging to not just one but two book clubs in the Twin Cities.

My son, Al, is a cook, too, but a different sort. He works the kitchen of a Claddagh Irish Pub in Toledo. And he’s a great debater winning every discussion he’s cared to engage in. His future lies in law, he thinks, so he’s applied and been accepted to law school.

They have some traits in common – they’re both smart, charismatic, and great leaders – all very cool traits, I’d say. Even though they have different last names.

I love them both for their individuality.

Big City Big Dreams

When I was a young girl growing up in Chicago, my girlfriends hung posters of Donny Osmond and David Cassidy on their bedroom walls. I displayed an article and picture of our local news anchor - Bill Kurtis.

He was good looking, confident, and smart. And he was compassionate. When Chicago's longstanding and often controversial Mayor Richard J. Daley died in December 1976 - the year I graduated from college with a degree in journalism - Kurtis was clearly moved.

He was my hero. He affirmed that I'd made the right decision in choosing journalism. You could be a tough journalist and interviewer, and still appreciate your subject. Several years later, after taking a rather circuitous route, I'm finally doing what I want to be doing - interviewing interesting people - mostly local women - and writing about them.

This blog will be mostly about what I'm learning along the way, from these women, and from the other amazing people in my life.