Funnel or failure? You should be failing.

Posted in Stories
funnel or failure

Howdy! What follows is a blog post I wrote several months back. I had just returned from a campus interview for my dream professor job. I was certain I’d land it. But, they rejected me. Feeling dejected, I wrote this post. I decided NOT to post it at the time, because I thought it was a bit whiny. But, after reading it again, I see that there are some great insights in this.

And, not to mention, I landed an even better job just a few weeks ago.

Persistence pays off, my friends.

Enjoy! Read more »

Writing with dyslexia

Posted in Stories
writing with dyslexia

I’m dyslexic. Oy. Not a convenient disability for a writer. And that, my friends, has been my biggest obstacle.

Impossible to overcome, it seemed. And it was (at least, without the help of technology.)

But I’ll get to that later.

First, let me tell you about the first time I realized I might have a talent for this–that maybe this writing thing could work out. I was in tenth grade, sitting in those metal desks that were designed to be painfully uncomfortable.

Read more »

Facing rejection with a smile: a story of persistence

Posted in Stories
PersistentFriendliness_square

Cole, a reader, said something in a comment last week that reminded me of a story I’d heard years ago–a story of persistence.

But I’ll get to that later–the “why” of this story. First, let me start with the who.

(I promise, I’ll get to the “why.”)

I called Ron Gillum and asked if I could share a story he once told in church.

“I’m just going to come and ask some questions,” I said, “and take some pictures. How’s that sound?”

“Oh that sounds fine. I’m not much to look at. See, I used to be ugly. Now I’m ugly and old.” Read more »