This blog post is going to sound a little whiny, but I need to get it out before I start writing today. I met with one of my writing partners early this morning for our regular exchange/feedback sesh, and her feedback was fantastic. But as usual, after receiving feedback I…
Author: Q.
Blog
Continue Reading
Blog 4.17.24
I had an opportunity to interview filmmaker Geoff Marslett yesterday for an upcoming podcast episode, and it was a powerful conversation about the challenges independent artists face, and the line we have to walk between our wildest creative impulses and marketability. To me, it feels like a paradox. Art, by…
Music
Continue Reading
Live Music Review: The Bright Light Social Hour at The Historic Scoot Inn, 4/13/24
Check out my review of The Bright Light Social Hour’s performance at The Historic Scoot Inn in Austin, Texas on 4/13/24 on The Cosmic Clash.
Blog
Continue Reading
Blog 4.16.24
I’ve just turned 50 and I’m slowing down. What’s interesting about this is that my slowing down isn’t happening because I’m aging. That part is pretty easy, actually. I just wake up every day and voila! I’m older. But the slowing down – that’s new. And while it’s connected to…
Blog
Continue Reading
Blog 4.15.24
I’m starting another one of my social media sabbaticals today. This time I’ll be “offline” for six weeks. Once again, I feel a profound sense of relief to be able to step away, and I wonder how much longer I can maintain a personal presence on these platforms. The whole…
Books
Continue Reading
Q Review | Crocodile Soup | Julia Darling
The Q Review features short reviews of books, movies and music. When buying used books at a thrift store there’s very little chance of finding the exact titles on my ‘to read’ list; but for as little as $1.99 I can pick up five random volumes for around ten dollars,…
Mental Health
Continue Reading
A Crisis at Midlife
Whatever your occupation, there’s a long line of younger, hotter, better educated and way more hip and hungry folks who have been fast-tracked on a 30-under-30 list to kick your ass out of the limelight. Deal with it. Or don’t. Society doesn’t give a shit. At midlife you’re simultaneously encouraged to pretend aging isn’t happening, while being penalized for not being able to stop it from happening.
Mental Health
Continue Reading
What a Long, Strange Trip it’s Been
Turning fifty feels so monumental that I’ve put pressure on myself to come up with something profound to say about it. I suppose a list of life lessons would be apt. Or maybe a retrospective that sums up the totality of half a century with some pithy one-liners wrapped in a witty little bow. Neither of those things appeal to me right now, though.
Poetry
Continue Reading
[POEM] 1.19.24
Learning to love myself Is an act of reason. And now, I shall finally Live. Disentangled From my oppressor; Gloriously perfect In my imperfection. Heart open like a violet rose In a passionate kiss with a Midday pause. The only sound, A fat bumblebee In a drunken ecstasy. I sit…
Creativity
Continue Reading
On Building (and sustaining) Creative Momentum
I spent the month of December offline (a practice that always gives me room to think and grow) during which time it occurred to me that the missing ingredient for my creative success is momentum.