Writing Life

A periodic record of thoughts and life as these happen via the various roles I play: individual, husband, father, grandfather, son, brother (brother-in-law), writer, university professor and others.

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Location: Tennessee, United States

I was born on Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina, then lived a while in Fayetteville, North Carolina, before moving, at the age of 5, to Walnut, NC. I graduated from Madison High School in 1977. After a brief time in college, I spent the most of the 1980s in Nashville, Tennessee, working as a songwriter and playing in a band. I spent most of the 1990s in school and now teach at a university in Tennessee. My household includes wife and son and cat. In South Carolina I have a son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

the winter of my discontent

I've had a difficult couple of months—physically and professionally. Generally I'm a fairly happy camper, and life goes on more or less smoothly. I know lots of people and places have much more difficult times than I, so griping is little more than selfishness. But I'm gonna do it anyway.

Okay, no I'm not. It just seems too small and pointless. Suffice it to say that I was turned down for a promotion at work, turned down in a senseless way that feels like the old music business rejections all over again. Then I had hernia surgery on 8 February, and I have yet to recover. Through it all I've been terrifically busy everywhere—at Honors House, in the Department of Literature and Language, at home, at church. I've been on the road not feeling well in Gatlinburg, Philadelphia and Charleston.

More later.