Author: Jim Kepler
-
Customer service
Assignment: An “expert” blog that teaches something In the days when computers were new, and I was a few decades younger, people wrote letters – to family, friends, and companies. I was chronically deficient in the first two but financially fortunate in the latter. I was a pen for hire. Here’s how it worked. Let’s…
-
A powerful speaker
Prompt 2: Write about a time you witnessed community solidarity or were inspired by or completed/attempted an act of kindness. The Rev. Edward Harris was a two-year interim minister sent by the denominational office in Boston to the Unitarian Church of Evanston, where I was a member in the early nineties. Ed was a wonderful…
-
One room
I live in a room. Literally. One room. Before coming to my son’s home, my wife and I had lived in a seven-room apartment whose sunroom directly overlooked the lake. Sunrises and moonrises over the water were breathtaking, and it was fun to watch airplanes heading for O’Hare from the east. One Sunday evening, we…
-
Rapid write
Assignment: Rapid write. Write fast, don’t look back, don’t edit. I think I’ve been stiff and stuffy all my life, both physically and emotionally. Where other guys bounced around on the balls of their feet, I tended to plod. It’s curious: I watch gymnastics on YouTube, men and women, and I can feel the freedom…
-
Free write
The kind of writing I’ve taught has always been fact based. Free writing is not easy for me. I wrote for a living, but my work was for very specific needs and goals. I liken free writing to what I’ve always been told about meditation: let your mind go blank, don’t concentrate on anything, think…