“The walls of your comfort zone are lovingly decorated with your lifelong collection of favorite excuses.” -Jen Sincero, from You Are A Badass At Making Money Ahh, my comfort zone. It’s comfortable to lounge on the couch or bed with my cat at my side and my beverage of choice at hand and read. …
Seeking The Bear
I’m reasonably sure that everyone who comes to Alaska would like to see a bear. I love watching them. Bears are amazing, majestic, and fascinating creatures. I’m grateful that I have seen them as often as I have, and even more grateful that I will see them many more times in the future. The problem …
Embracing Discomfort
Sometimes a creative life means existing in a state of discomfort. Discomfort comes from those times of learning something new, or persisting when a project has become difficult/boring/otherwise annoying, and, in my case, taking the painful but necessary step of no longer drinking coffee. Pressure to be productive also causes discomfort. I’ve made certain photos …
Looking Back
Four years ago today I met one of the best friends I’ve ever had. I was in the middle of a journey, and the stranger I met would change the path of my life. Four years ago, I was in the Alaska Marine Highway terminal in Bellingham, Washington, about to board one of the state …
Fear of Change
Like 97% of the rest of humanity, I am afraid of change. By the way, I fabricated the 97% figure – I bet the actual percentage of human beings who are afraid of change is higher. The funny thing about a fear of change is that it doesn’t matter if the change is something wanted …
Planting Seeds
Spring weather has me thinking about gardening. I’ve been planting seeds for my garden since February, but it’s an ongoing process. There’s always something else to start. This week it’s transplanting the lettuce, kale, and cabbage that I’ve started indoors on the windowsill. Next, the beet and carrot seeds need to go in the ground. …
Change or Stay Stuck
I’ve been thinking a lot about change. Maybe it’s because we’re not too far past the season of making New Year’s Resolutions. Hell, since we’ve just passed the Lunar New Year, it’s a do-over for those who have already dropped the resolutions they made when they hung up the 2017 calendar. You can probably tell …
Create Just To Create
One thing I have run into repeatedly over my years of creativity: people asking when I’m going to DO SOMETHING with my work. It doesn’t matter if it’s been crochet, painting, writing, photography or sewing. The world has this weird idea that creative pursuits have no value unless you’re making money from them. The problem …
Almost Here: NaNoWriMo 2016
November 2016 is my fourth year participating in National Novel Writing Month, more commonly known as NaNoWriMo. If you’re unfamiliar with it, the goal is to write a novel of 50,000 words in the 30 days of November. I completed 2013 and 2014 NaNoWriMos successfully, but last year’s attempt was abruptly ended on November 7. Before my …
Blogging My Way
Naming my website Salmon Apple Pie should tell everyone that this entire project is supposed to be fun. I don’t know a blogger who wouldn’t want to make some money from blogging, but I don’t see the point of doing a whole bunch of stuff that I detest just for the sake of monetizing my …