An unusual thing happened in the friary in which I live. There was a waiting line at the coffee machine and as we are wont to do when together, our house naturally moves into storytelling. One of the brothers is working on his doctorate and is in the midst of writing the chapters of his dissertation. So there is often inquiry of him on how the process is going. Not surprisingly, as we waited for the coffee machine to finish its start-up, there began storytelling about writing. Others in the house have doctorates and have taught at the university and graduate school level and so have lots of stories about preparing their own dissertations as well as serving as a reader on other’s submissions. Now if you are having a hard time imagining how such a narrative could be engaging, funny and a cliff-hanger… well, it depends on who is telling the story… or, you had to be there. I will leave them to start their own blog. But here is a tale of when and where my writing career started and almost ended. Continue reading →