Heroes are not dark knights or high flying spidermen. They are the ones without a cape or fancy steel suit who show up everyday to make the world a better place. ...
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Anything Becomes Something
This month is National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo as it’s known in the writing world. I’ve signed up (again) to write fifty thousand (50k) words by the end of the month. It’s a daunting goal but I’m excited to face it head-on. November is a month where for writers anything becomes something. I...
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When It Comes To Control Less Is More
In 2003, when I was training in Augusta, GA, the team went out for a row and launched heading upriver. It was windy and choppy – two things that made my already crappy rowing even crappier. As my teammates rowed, the lengths between us increased and increased and so did my anxiety. I quickly...
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The Head Of The Charles Is Over, Now What?
The Head of the Charles Regatta is the pinnacle of fall racing. How do you refocus once the event is over?...
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Time To Live My Truth
Synchronicity shows up when we least expect it. This past weekend two things happened which have me reflecting on my writing and my life. And something I realized was that it’s time to live my truth. First, I had the chance to chat with a friend and former athlete who is also a writer....
Continue readingDo I Need To Insult Your Parents?
“What do I have to do to get a rise out of you Shumway? Insult your parents?” That’s what my high school basketball coach yelled at me during practice my senior year. I was playing like crap, kept making mistakes, until finally he took me out of first string and put my teammate in....
Continue readingBe Like Frost, Make The Bold Choice
Robert Frost wrote one of the most quoted poems of all time. He urged the reader to make the bold choice. “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” What a crock of you know what. In today’s world, who...
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Don’t Like This Post
I want you to do the hard thing. But I don’t think you’re capable. But just in case you’re paying attention I’ll tell you what I want you to do anyway: don’t like this post (1). If you even read this, which you probably won’t (because the average reader spends about a minute and...
Continue readingThe Fallacy Of Before And After
We love transformation stories. An overweight recluse who now has ripped abs and confidence. A homeowner who buys a condemned house and restores it to its 1940s glory. An author who only had ten followers and is now on the bestseller list. We put two pictures side by side and say “See? What a...
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If Its Not Ready, Let It Bake Longer
You’d never take a loaf of bread out of the oven halfway through baking it. You’d end up with a doughy blob you can’t eat. You’ve got to let it bake longer. It takes patience, diligence, and self-awareness. Ok, we’re not talking about bread here. We’re talking about your ideas. Sometimes you have a...
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