27Sep, 2011

Review: Katie Herzig and The Waking Sleep

Posted by Don
19

I met Katie Herzig years ago before I’d heard her music. She was a critics favorite, floating around Nashville but like so many musicians floating around Nashville she was, for me, lost in a sea of names and talent. We met at a retreat and like everybody who meets Katie I had my crush (supposedly it’s a right of passage in Nashville) and yet what came out of that for me was a sincere appreciation for her music. She’s since become a friend but honestly I consider myself more a fan, still. It’s arguable, but I think you could make a case for Katie being one of the greatest singer/songwriters alive. Occasionally she attempts a pop feel and while it works and works better than most other artists doing pop those songs often strike me as less than what she’s capable of as an artist, as though she’s torn between doing her music and doing music that she knows will land with a larger group of fans. These songs (though not sonically) remind me of that old Blues Traveler song “Hook” in which John Popper wrote a song with an incredible hook that rose to and stayed at the top [...]

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26Sep, 2011

A Reminder that Beauty Comes from Pain

Posted by Don
50

My dear friends Jesse and Brianne Olson e-mailed me a picture of their daughter this morning. She’s beautiful of course, and strong and smart just like her parents and her name is Payson. What got me all choked up, though, was her name. I knew immediately where the name came from. I was there when the name Payson was born, sort of. It was a few years ago and we were all riding our bikes across America. We’d been in the desert for a week, riding through temperatures as high as 112 degrees. The day we rode out of Phoenix was one of the hardest days of the trip. We rode over mountains and then more mountains. Every range we climbed revealed another range. Our hearts sank each time we topped a massive, hours-long climb. We slept in a rock quary for rest, literally flat on our backs on piles of rocks. We drank gallons of water but never quenched our thirst, and our stopping place was hours and hours away. The ride was so tough a friend and I actually got off our bikes and walked the last few miles, our tires flat from punctured tubes. We walked into [...]

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23Sep, 2011

Leaders Lead People Through the Fear

Posted by Don
67

I received an email last night from a courageous friend named Paul. He’s one of those tough guys but his toughness isn’t covering anything. He’s tough on the outside and tough on the inside, too. What I mean by tough on the outside is he’s actually training to run one-hundred miles in a single go only two weeks from now. No kidding, he’ll run the Chicago marathon as the last quarter of his personal challenge. He’s insane. He’s doing it to help some children he loves. I’ll give you more information below. And yet, whenever I exchange stories with my friend he’s got more to talk about on the inside journey than he does about his athletic accomplishments. He talks about very hard emotional stuff as though it’s a challenge equal to the physical. Whether it’s addressing a father wound, or addressing his desire to love people more deeply, they’re all challenges, they’re all mountains to climb and he does it with both fear and enthusiasm. Still, there’s times when it’s hard to be that kind of guy. I think one of the reasons it’s hard is because facing challenges head on is a lonely business. I truly believe most [...]

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16Sep, 2011

The Best Writing Advice I’ve Ever Received

Posted by Don
167

I’ve a shelf at home devoted to books about writing. I’d say I might even have two shelves devoted to those books now. I’ve read most of them and some are better than others. But the best writing advice I’ve ever received didn’t come from a book. It actually occurred to me one morning when I was lying in bed, not wanting to get up and do my job. Maybe it came from heaven, I don’t know. But the advice was this: Love your reader. It sounds simple, but it isn’t so easy, actually. Writing is something most of us do alone. We might collaborate on a screenplay or something, but with a book or a blog, we are alone in front of our computers, tapping out our thoughts. It’s not like the reader is sitting behind us, looking over our shoulder making comments. We’re pretty disconnected from whoever it might be who will ultimately be benefited by our work. For this reason, it’s hard to remember that, well, people will actually be benefited by our work. Add to this, most writers don’t think there work really matters. I’ve met writers who have sold thousands of books and still don’t [...]

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13Sep, 2011

What to do with Pain

Posted by Don
91

The older I get, the more I appreciate pain. I’m not a masochist by any stretch because I don’t like pain any more than the average person. And yet I’ve come to appreciate it. In years past, when I’d go through a hard time, I’d run from it. I’d try not to feel it or deal with it. But these days, I’ve learned the only way life can actually get better is if I face reality, face my mistakes and liabilities and somehow correct or at least acknowledge them. In stories, characters only change in crisis. Characters never, ever change when the story is going well. And of course the same is true with life. Pain is always an invitation to grow. Sadly, pain also has the opposite affect. If we cover over our pain with coping mechanisms, it’s as though we are going through a workout without gaining muscle. Some people do this for years and never grow. Ever met a 50-year old who is still making the mistakes of a 19-year old? It’s likely because he never accepted pain and allowed it to change his character. Here are some ways we can grow through when we are in [...]

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