Matthew Arnold Stern's Blog, page 24

When your heroes die

I remember watching Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run. I was at plenty of Dodger games with Don Sutton on the mound and Tommy Lasorda in the dugout. If you live long enough, you will watch your childhood heroes die. The stars of your youth will succumb to the inevitability of age and mortality. […]

“Not without warning”

I’ve been thinking about a set of old 78s my parents used to have. It was called The Airborne Symphony, composed during World War II by Marc Blitzstein. It tells the history of human flight from the past to the experiences of combat pilots. I may have been 9 or 10 when I listened to the […]

Divisible by five

This is a big divisible-by-five year for me. In 2021, I mark the 25th anniversary of this website and my 60th birthday. This coincidence of mathematics gives me a chance to reflect on the past and look ahead. As I approach 60, I’m now old enough that body parts stop working properly, and it’s just […]

Deepen the connections

It’s goal-setting time again. While I have several specific goals—including the launch of The Remainders in September, finishing my new novel Haunted, and reaching my goal weight—it’s helpful to link them to a single theme. This year, it comes down to a question: How do I increase and deepen my connections with others? In a year when […]

It’s time to move on

The day will come when you recognize that Donald Trump is no longer President of the United States. If you didn’t recognize it from the Electoral College vote, it might come when those votes are officially tallied in Congress. Or when Joe Biden is inaugurated. Or when your favorite media personalities switch from defending President […]

“Next year, all our troubles will be miles away.”

Since 2018, I’ve been writing about the lessons I’ve learned during the past year. What 2020 has taught most of us is endurance. How to keep going even when problems seem unending, and there is no hope in sight. But even with the promise of a vaccine and a change in government, hope still seems […]

Coming attractions

Last week marked the bookversary of my novel Amiga. But when you’re a writer, you can’t just rest on a single book. The way to build readership is to offer more books. Fortunately, I have some good news about upcoming novels and learned about a new independent bookstore in my area. An Amiga live reading But […]

Gratitude and survival

I’ve written about being grateful in hard times, but this year has stretched our patience and endurance. There is not a person who has not been affected in some way by the multiple crises we’ve faced this year. And we know the worst is to come. With increased infections and deaths, reinstated restrictions, political uncertainty […]

NaNoWriMo 2020: A halftime report

I’m halfway through NaNoWriMo 2020 both in the number of days and number of words. After tonight’s session, I’ve written 27,040 words of my new novel Haunted. Here is how my project is going and what I’ve learned along the way. This is a 100% pantser project There is no one right way to write a […]

How nightmares end

Yesterday was the end of a chaotic week, not only for our country, but for our family. My daughter was involved in a serious car accident where she almost lost her life. She is OK and has gone back to work. If you’ve been following my website, you know how I feel about the soon-to-be-former […]