Riffs, Tiffs and What Ifs

Confession. I'm a bad bad boring blogger. Any of you reading this blog irregularly already know that. I don't blog consistently. Just not that prolific of a pontificating pontificator. I'm not that interesting. Don't have the urge to blog daily "sweet nothings." (Emphasis on nothing.) Only do it when I have something to say, or need to test some new whiz-shebang Web2.0 technology. I'm just a bad bad boring blogger. Odious & Odoriferous I'm bad. But at least I come by it honestly. I find it odious (Smell-bad-ifferus) to simply post a blog comment like "Joe Know-It-All " had a great post on "click here to check it out." IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ... JUST SAY IT! Plus - Ive been pretty busy writing and re-writing (and re-writing ad nauseum) a couple stories of my own (screenplays) as well as editing 1o-15 business articles a week for Expert Access , a B2B e-zine with 135, 000 subscribers. I do have quite a few sto...

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them." 'For the Fallen' by Laurence Binyon I Never Met Him But I knew him. Lived about 15 miles from where I live. Southwest Ohio. A mix of small town farms and businesses. He was like many other young men around here. Grew up playing soccer, football, hanging out, fishing, dreaming of a wonderful life to come - and working hard to achieve that dream. Was enrolled in the University of Cincinnati Aerospace Engineering Program, using a scholarship he'd received from winning a writing competition. Worked at Sam's Club to help pay for college. But anyone being within a continent (or planet) of the U.S. knows how expensive college is now. So, this young man joined the U.S. Army Reserves to further help with college costs. He was stationed with the 705th Transportation Company based...

It starts with a phone call. The one moment in life that every parent dreads. A nightmare every parent prays will never happen. A mad rush to the hospital. An anxious eternity. You finally arrive and burst through the doors. A doctor comes out, maybe two. Their faces tell you what you don't want to know. It's over. Your child has passed. Gone. Grief forever sears the moment in your memory. Overwhelming sadness drags your heart into, and then below, a bottomless pit. A primordial scream forms. But the medical people are speaking to you. Your son, your baby, your beloved gift from God, is gone; but these people continue talking. Can't they stop? They force you to listen. They tell you your son was an organ donor . Timing is critical. Organ donor? You didn't know. That's how Vickie Jackson, a Cincom employee, found out. Her son Brandon Jackson, recently returned from the Iraq war, in his quiet dignity, had registered to be an organ donor. The medical people asked for ...

About a year ago, I had the pleasure to co-write an article titled "Ten Tips for Being Good in a Room," with Stephanie Palmer, former Director of Creative Affairs at MGM Pictures. At the time, she had just started a new company called (you're never going to guess ...) "Good in a Room." The article, updated and included below, (with a surprise at the end) draws on Stephanie's years of experience working with stories, writers, creative people and directors as they "pitched" their ideas and stories trying to get them to the big screen. In Stephanie's tenure as the Director of Creative Affairs at MGM Pictures she acquired screenplays, books, articles and pitches and supervised their development. Some of her projects include " Mad Money ," " 21 ," " Be Cool ," " Legally Blonde ," " Sleepover ," " A Guy Thing ," " Good Boy ," " Agent Cody Banks" and " Agent Cody B...