tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-238844702024-03-19T05:29:49.634-07:00kansas city soilJoe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.comBlogger873125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-9424749431404362082012-09-25T20:13:00.002-07:002012-09-25T20:14:31.973-07:00UpdateIt's September 25, 2012, and I no longer live in Kansas City. I'm now a professor at a university in the Deep South. I don't have a blog anymore, but I tweet every once in a while @90milesoutofatl.
I wrote an essay about an experience I had after my first book came out, and another about how I came to terms with not being a Christian. I've gotten back into record collecting. I write about music Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-29712629788684869322010-04-24T09:38:00.000-07:002010-04-24T09:38:11.928-07:00No neeninAllie and I call the Internet the neenernet and we call surfing neening.
I've just imposed a rule of not neenin' before noon each day. Not even checking email is allowed.
I just decided enough is enough. Every freaking day I get on just to check for messages and I wind up getting sucked in, looking around for something interesting, not finding anything, and, worst of all, not writing. So no Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-32637299718566127362010-04-23T13:08:00.000-07:002010-04-23T13:08:32.519-07:00affsI've recently started doing daily affirmations. Yes, those kinds of affirmations. Except I don't do them in front of a mirror.
No, I'm not ashamed to admit it. Not really.
Here's the thing: They work!
Seriously, I've noticed a marked improvement in the areas of my life that I've targeted with affirmations. One of those areas is writing. I've been doing an affirmation everyday about my novel. Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-181972883789157582010-04-21T11:34:00.000-07:002010-04-21T11:34:36.550-07:00Begin againTime to dust off this blog again. It's probably the best way to keep my relatives apprised of what's going on with me. So here goes...
I had an essay accepted by Pleiades today. That's a big goal -- published by a lit journal -- accomplished a little more quickly than I thought it would be.
The weird thing is I re-read the essay and I thought it was awful. I got all down on myself for Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-90210792843384103312009-12-31T10:03:00.000-08:002009-12-31T12:35:05.434-08:00new year's resloutions Last year, I listed the these resolutions on this blog:Sell a book.Run injury free. Do The Weekend Novelist.Make this blog worthy of a top ten list.I only succeeded in one - run injury free.Not that I didn't try to make resolution #1 come true. I tried mighty hard. I wrote two proposals and even switched agents. No luck.As for resolution #3. That book's kind of lame.I did, however, start a Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-23144511823047407292009-11-08T16:48:00.000-08:002009-11-08T16:55:25.833-08:00lovin lifeI'm amazed at how much fun I'm having writing fiction.Longtime readers of this blog (grandma) will recall that I often whine about the difficulties of writing. I've likened it to digging ditches. I've written at least a half dozen posts about how I have to trick myself into writing everyday.But since I've started this book, I can't wait to get back to it each morning. And when I'm at it, I stay Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-47715381836449582552009-11-06T10:58:00.001-08:002009-11-06T10:58:30.533-08:00out of the bagJoe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-43205547210423027852009-11-04T09:06:00.000-08:002009-11-04T09:13:37.746-08:00freedomEarlier this week, I downloaded Freedom and I've been using it every day since. It disables your internet connection for however long you specify. Great writing tool. Today I set it for three hours.One of the toughest tasks of a writer is keeping your butt in the chair -- or at least keeping your eyes on whatever it is you're writing. Whenever I'm writing and I hit a spot where I'm not quite sureJoe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-60438285112059943362009-11-02T08:30:00.000-08:002009-11-02T08:48:05.053-08:00art of fictionA couple weeks ago, I grabbed John Gardner's The Art of Fiction off of Allie's shelf and started reading. It turned out to be just the thing I needed to get me started writing fiction.I've wanted to write fiction for years. But whenever I try to start, my mind locks up. I become overwhelmed by the immensity of the task ahead of me. Fiction offers so much freedom that it's stifling.Nonfiction, on Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-2179915794184133282009-11-01T15:54:00.000-08:002009-11-01T16:19:53.121-08:00frankenblogI've going to bring this blog back to life one more time.Partly because someone posted a comment last week asking my to write more here. Partly because my grandma isn't on Facebook. But mostly because I have an idea of what to write about: writing.For the next several months (or weeks or days or years, however long I can keep it up), I'm going to post about my experiences as I write a novel, Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-26206571019427538482009-11-01T14:27:00.001-08:002009-11-01T14:27:39.658-08:00our halloweenJoe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-72921539597764802892009-10-30T09:20:00.000-07:002009-10-30T10:12:32.448-07:00time for fictionEarlier this month I sent a proposal to my agent for a book about my experience in the mayor's office. It's the third proposal I've written about the subject over the last year. When I heard back a couple week's later, the message was pretty much the same: "Great story. Great writing. Not quite enough there to warrant a book."This time around the angle was to use the Funkhouser story as a device Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-41669604529475052092009-09-07T06:54:00.000-07:002009-09-07T06:57:20.650-07:00ethics schmethicsI have a new column at kcdowntowner.com . At issue this week is a $750 political donation made with city funds -- which is against the law. A low-level employee lost her job. But the city's top dog, City Manager Wayne Cauthen, in whose name the donation was made, has faced zero scrutiny. What gives?Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-56495344683101633432009-09-01T17:25:00.001-07:002009-09-01T17:25:52.194-07:00salonThe Salon story finally came out.Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-8709855410502218692009-08-30T15:18:00.000-07:002009-08-30T15:48:25.638-07:00the 80s: reckoningAs I've said here a couple of times, the summer between my freshman and sophomore year wasn't the best of my life. By summer's end I felt so down on myself that I couldn't bear to look at my own shadow, much less mirrors. No kidding. After that night staring at my whole, miserable life reflected in a plate-glass window I didn't want to have to be reminded of myself ever again.So I was a pretty Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-11606330503378880992009-08-26T07:04:00.000-07:002009-08-26T07:05:42.995-07:00new gigI've got a new gig as a column writer for start-up info site. Check out my first story.Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-2570702970074334452009-08-22T12:16:00.000-07:002009-08-22T12:18:03.903-07:00flipping outAllie and I bought a new toy today.And so:Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-39049877276908382952009-08-19T06:56:00.000-07:002009-08-19T06:57:08.214-07:00just do itThis is encouraging.Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-27186058005256075482009-08-17T09:14:00.000-07:002009-08-17T09:25:58.263-07:00scamp's last daysAt some point during the last couple days of Scamp’s life I said to Allie that I was surprised by the experience. I expected it to be unbearable and monolithically awful. And I’d even before this all started to go down, been thinking about the inevitability of our animals’ deaths, and absolutely dreading it. I’d even taken to saying that the only downside of pet ownership is that they don’t live Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-50739195425118869532009-08-16T14:55:00.000-07:002009-08-16T14:56:18.413-07:00kind wordsWe've been getting lots of support from family and friends. One friend sent me a note that i really appreciated:I remember when we lived in Denver, I went over to your house one day to hang out. At one point during our conversation you stopped in mid sentence, bent over to pick Scamp up off the couch and held her up over your head with one hand. Scamp was looking at you and was very calm. You Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-30333133897626052142009-08-15T14:38:00.000-07:002009-08-15T14:41:59.002-07:00ScampScamp was a little too young when I got her. For our first couple of days together, I fed her baby animal food from a bottle. She gnawed the rubbery tip to shreds. At night I slept with my hand draped over her body like a blanket. She wasn’t much bigger than a guinea pig. <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->Because of the early weaning, and the bottle, I think, Scamp lived her whole life thinking I Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-91531485557602445652009-08-06T07:30:00.000-07:002009-08-06T07:37:39.871-07:00interesting statsI did a couple of queries on the Kansas City Star's article database at the library's site to see how many hits I would get on Mark Funkhouser and Alvin Brooks between November 1, 2006 and March 28, 2007, when the race for mayor was dominating local news. Out of curiosity, I also threw in Albert Riederer, the third-place finisher in the primary.Here's what I got:Funkhouser - 424Brooks - Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-10961928119056995752009-08-05T12:25:00.000-07:002009-08-30T15:47:59.737-07:00the 80s: rellikThe summer after my freshman year wasn't the best of my life. I spent it in Elkhart, Indiana, living mostly with my grandparents on my dad's side of the family. I guess I hadn't yet fully accepted Denver as my new home, and I wanted to take one last run at being a big fish in the little Indiana pond.That's the only time in my life that I've been in a band. And we were only a real, full band for Joe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-13113998695836601482009-08-05T08:13:00.001-07:002009-08-05T08:13:21.256-07:00monkey and cat making outJoe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23884470.post-73378745804411164892009-08-05T08:04:00.001-07:002009-08-05T08:04:54.154-07:00a moment of zenJoe Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17083716810017814859noreply@blogger.com0