On Oct 1, I woke in Dallas at 3 a.m. before my flight back to Las Vegas. Picking the morning flight over the red eye became a battle of trying to sleep in a too soft bed with a thin pillow. I might have slept better on the overnight. I should have just stayed awake and pretended I was 20 again. I hit stop on the phone alarm and saw a long line of alerts.…
[aesop_image imgwidth=”825″ img=”https://wordsmithholler.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/jazz-1263988_1920.jpg” credit=”Pixabay” align=”left” lightbox=”on” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off”] Behind the library, between the quad and the band room, the Stoners smoke packs of red Marlboro’s. For all practical purposes, this might as well be no man’s land. Only sand dirt seems to grow and the green soccer field starts 80 yards farther away. I imagine the area remained hidden before the school added the soccer field and a football arena. The area is the perfect…
I grew up trout fishing. But I will never be able to capture the river like Norman Maclean. I once toiled as an innkeeper. But my experiences were nothing like described by John Irving. Inspiration Comes From Experience I am a product of the American West and my inspiration comes from those people. I take inspiration from their stories and those subjects are close to my heart. When Tom Booker stopped at a remote four-corners somewhere between Nevada and…