Michael T. Miyoshi's Blog, page 18

Just a House

When it comes right down to it, it is just a house.

Going through the death of a parent is not an easy thing. It is painful for all the obvious reasons. Most notably, because you lost a person you loved. Which makes getting rid of stuff seem like maybe you loved the person a little less than you should have. And that thought makes sorting through all the stuff of life a difficult thing.

“Oh I remember giving that to Mom…”
“I remember when we got that picture for Dad…”
“I remember being stuc...

Garbage on the Internet

I must apologize. I am sorry for putting out so much garbage on the internet.

I know that garbage is in the eye of the beholder, but sometimes I wonder if my writing is garbage to everybody. Still, even though I wonder about the quality of my writing, I will continue to put more of it out there. Writing that is. Or garbage if that is the way you see it. And like I said, I am sorry for putting so much of it out there.

Of course, I must not think all of my writing is garbage, or I would not ...

Waiting

There are times when I have a blog post ready, but I need to wait for a picture.

I usually get pictures for my blog from a royalty free service that I use. I paid for the service (along with other author services), but I do not pay for each picture I use. Which is a great thing. I also use my own pictures too. Unfortunately, sometimes I need pictures from other people. Which means that sometimes I need to wait.

Of course, it does help reduce the wait time when you actually send the request...

Quit Aspiring

If I was going to give one piece of advice to aspiring writers, it would be: “Quit aspiring to be a writer and just be a writer.”

I used to aspire to be a writer. Which just meant that I thought about being a writer. A best-selling author. Outstanding in my field. What I realized was that all that daydreaming was just that. Daydreaming.

Now daydreaming is not a bad thing in and of itself. It is bad when that is all you do. But it is okay when it turns into action. And it is even better ...

Fourth of July Reminiscing [2]

There is something about the Fourth of July that brings about memories. Memories of cigarettes.

Now I must say right up front that I do not hold to smoking cigarettes. In fact, I like the notion that people are not smokers at all. The cigarettes are the smokers. The people are just the suckers. But I am not trying to condemn smokers either. In reality, the fireworks we had this Fourth of July just brought back memories of Independence Days of yore.

To be sure, our Fourth of July was not a...

Fourth of July Reminiscing

There is something about the Fourth of July that brings about memories. Memories of cigarettes.

Now I must say right up front that I do not hold to smoking cigarettes. In fact, I like the notion that people are not smokers at all. The cigarettes are the smokers. The people are just the suckers. But I am not trying to condemn smokers either. In reality, the fireworks we had this Fourth of July just brought back memories of Independence Days of yore.

To be sure, our Fourth of July was not a...

Product or Process

Is the product or the process more important? Especially when it comes to writing.

When I first started blogging, a friend of mine gave me some great advice. “Just ship it.” I have followed that advice since that day. (And of course, I wrote a blog post about it too. Hence the link.)

The main points of the discussion were pretty simple. Set a deadline for yourself. Use the time wisely to get to that deadline. Then, whatever you have at the deadline, just ship it. Simple. And for t...

The Graduated Throwers of 2022

As I think about the graduated class of 2022, I really need to tell my group of throwers that I will miss them.

The class of 2022 was a wonderful class. I have great memories of their time in my classes. I have great memories of the different personalities. I have great memories of their personal growth. And the epitome of those stories has been lived out in my group of graduated track and field (T&F) throwers.

Throwers are a special group of athletes in the T&F world. They launch big ro...

Self-Publishing

Unless you are Hugh Howey, you probably will not be taken seriously as a self-published author.

There are many authors out there who are self-publishing these days. And why not? After all, it is a no-lose proposition. You can put your books out there on Amazon or whatever your favorite self-publishing platform is, and voilà! You are a self-published author. No muss, no fuss. You can even put your book out there as a print-on-demand book. It takes a little more time than just digital publ...

Who Writes with Fountain Pens?

I do not know whether you have noticed, but I have been using pictures of fountain pens on my blog lately.

For some reason fountain pens are synonymous with writing. At least in my brain. Or maybe it is just that I have used fountain pens as pictures for my blog when I have written about writing lately. I know. I have also used pictures of typewriters and keyboards in my posts about writing. But in my brain, the fountain pen points to writing more than either type of keyboard.

It is funny ...