Category: Other Places to Find Me

My latest post is up at the Vox Pop Network. Titled Four Star Hospitality, it is about my recent dining experience at Salty’s on Alki, and how it inspired me to be friendlier. Here is an excerpt:

And when I say they smiled and greeted us, I’m not just referring to a pass-by smile on their way to the kitchen. The food prep cooks called out to us from over the counter; waiters stopped collecting their plates to smile and say hello; a bus boy stopped his work, turned from his table, and greeted us as we walked by; a second hostess on her way back to the podium stepped aside, smiled, and said hello.

I wrote this one pretty quickly and in very few drafts. In fact, I think my initial free-write was pretty dern close to what I published, save the ending. I generally have a difficult time ending an essay like this one without putting it in a cute little box with a neat bow on top. It irks me when things feel that ‘wrapped up.’

I also had a slight challenge with tone. At one point I realized I was getting preachy, in a You Should Really Be Doing This Better kind of way. That irks me too, so I had to bring it back around to me and my own experience. And then I have to walk that fine line between telling a story from my perspective versus making it all about me.

I hope I succeeded in the first thing.

I cross-posted one of my recent essays over at A Wild Ride, you can check it out here. I posted it just as it was on This Pile, but I changed the title. Sometimes when I can’t think of a creative title, I just slap something down because I’m anxious to get a post up. It wasn’t until later that I thought of a better title than “Cue eerie music in the background…”

October’s theme at A Wild Ride is sleep, so if you have children with challenging sleep issues, you should check back there from time to time.

I ran into a woman at Fred Meyer a couple months ago. We were both dropping off our kids at the while-you-shop daycare, and I said something to her about how nice it is to be able to shop without distraction. We talked for a few minutes, and then she commented on how I looked familiar to her. After rattling off a few places we might have met, she finally mentioned one of the parks within walking distance of my house, and I remembered her as a mom I chatted with on several occasions while our kids played last summer. We talked some more and then exchanged phone numbers for future play dates.

To read more of this post on the Vox Pop Network, go here.

I posted this last week, but it’s been a little crazy here at the Zughaus. This was an essay I drafted a couple months ago, and was actually part of a larger essay originaly. But as I went on and on I realized there were two threads of thought that should probably be split in order to keep it simple and short(ish).

I think I fined tuned this one in three drafts, plus a little tinkering after Bryan read through it. I also made a point of closing with a question in hopes of generating a conversation in the comments. This seemed to work, as this post contained more comments than either of the other two I posted previously. I got this idea from Jen Lemen, who I’ve noticed ends many of her posts with a thoughtful question to draw people out of lurking.

My latest post is up at Mars Hill’s Vox Pop Network about stepping out of my comfort zone. Titled, Overcoming the fear that toilet paper may be hanging out of my skirt, here is an excerpt….

I once watched with curiosity as my friend stopped to talk to a homeless woman in my neighborhood and extended ways in which she could personally help her. I had no idea what made her capable of doing this, and chalked it up to just not being my thing. I know lots of extroverts, those people who make conversation with everybody. They chat with the cashier while grocery shopping, they talk to the other moms at the park, they say, ‘Hey, that looks cute on you,’ to the fellow shopper at the mall. I once knew a gal whose husband teased her that she’d talk to a light pole if no one else was around.

This is not naturally me. In fact, this is the opposite of me. It is the anti-me. And for the longest time it was the so-not-going-to-EVER-be-me me. But lately I’ve been trying to not use this as an excuse to avoid the people Jesus puts in front of me.

Go here to read the full essay.

I worked on this essay for weeks, and finally posted the fourth or fifth draft. It’s such a rewarding experience to see something kind of good work its way into something (dare I say) excellent. It has also been beneficial in getting over my aversion to drafting. Just when I think something is great, I let it sit for awhile, and don’t even read it. Then I come back to it a week later with fresh eyes, and a new phrase pops into my head that fits perfectly between paragraphs three and four to tie it all together.

It can be a maddening experience though, and I’m beginning to see why writers and artists are so eccentric. We spend so much time in our own thoughts, distracted over an undone work of art, that the Right Here and Now gets a little lost. Please warn me if I start looking a little disheveled and mumble to myself while quietly rocking with pen and pad in hand.