*Sigh* Venting made me feel better...

Sigh Venting made me feel better...

Weeks now... I have no "get up and go". I haven't been able to focus at work or at home. I'm practically useless in both places.

I have a few fits of mental activity & acuity, usually not more than minutes at a time, followed by hours/days of *BLAH*.

I eat but I'm not satisfied, I really just want a drink. Sober since 2002 doesn't even mean anything to me anymore. Sober why? For what? What's the point?

Work why? To make money to pay bills to have a house so that I can eat so that I can live so that I can.. work? Vicious awful cycle.

I show at work with a never ending to-do list that will never be under control. Leadership that doesn't listen or understand. And for what? So some spoiled idiot that didn't read their contract or understand the basics of sales negotiations, and will probably vote for Hillary or Trump, can whine in my ear?

I want off this ride.

....

On the other hand...

I enjoyed reading DB McDowell's "Girl who stole tomorrow". And I'm enjoying the prospect of writing novels myself.

I was feeling very stuck on my current (1st) work in progress, White Noise - The Tower, until I had a realization this morning at Preston's game (which was also fun).

It's good to learn all the rules of a craft. Then you know which ones bend and which ones break and why things aren't working when they aren't working. But eventually you have to break some of those rules.

The Structure of a full length novel is often described as 3 Act, W Story Structure, etc. But if I'm writing short episodic fiction, the W may need to be a V.

So I need to go back and look at the novel from that angle, and maybe move some of what I was working on to book 2.

And that's what I'm going to do right now.

OK... I feel a LITTLE better.

:) Darrell

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An Open Letter: John Stumpf, Wells Fargo Board, and Policy Making Departments

On 12/28/13, I wrote the following letter to the then CEO & President of Wells Fargo, John Stumpf. It was in part, a response to the LA Times Article and the poor response from Wells Fargo leadership.

I later worked for the executive office and saw how they handle these letters. They assign them to a paper-pusher who could care less. They draft a form response, and it gets tallied in the statistics.

By the time it makes it to the CEO, it's only data in a pie chart. "We had 365 complaints this month. x number of complaints about checking, y number about sales practices, Etc." They tally it up, if it's not a big enough stat, it gets zero attention. Most things that do require attention get just enough to make it go away, but never deal with the root.

I was one of many hundreds who spoke up loudly and actively for years before 2013 and years after. The news cycle of 2016 showed that it cost them $185 Million dollars to ignore the feedback their frontline Team Membe…

White Nose | Scene 3

The Aleve took effect with the help of two breakfast whiskey sours. It had been three days since his tussle in town and he still couldn't sleep, despite the nighttime cocktail.
Beams of light broke through the trees outlining Ash's house, tucked back off of the main road by a mile long rock driveway. One such beam was tanning his pale country face as he rocked on an old wooden chair he'd carved himself. Whittling was one of his most relaxing and profitable talents.
One look in the mirror each summer reminded him that he only retained two colors, pale Irish freckle and redneck red. Ash was careful to avoid too much contact with summer's star.
Dust down the drive revealed the presence of a visitor before the sound of tires on gravel confirmed it. Ash hasn't been visited by more than three people in the eight years he'd been back in town, so he picked up the hunting rifle, just in case.
The scope showed the local sheriff, his friend Dan. He didn't usually com…

Topos Transitions

Transitions are rough. I've been through many seasons of my life where I had to make a transition. At each and every stage it was tough. There are always things you miss about the last season, things you are hoping for in the next season, and things you can't wait to be rid of in the season you're leaving behind.Whether you are sensing the winds of change blowing you out of your current situation, you are in the middle of the trip, or the winds are at your back and you settling in to your new spot... Remember this word: ToposTopos is a Greek word and it essentially means:Your strategic position of opportunity and influence.Make your Topos count today, wherever you are.Darrell

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger????

What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.Ask a Vet with an amputated limb if they feel stronger now or before the limb was taken... I'd bet before. Injury, all injury, is by definition a lack of perfection. What doesn't kill you, more often than not, makes you weaker, more timid, more cautious, slower... Not stronger.Sure, we can learn from the past, become more resilient. We can use pressure, under certain circumstances, to build resistance based strengths, like a body builder pushing back on the resistance of the weights... But by no means is the saying: "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger" an accurate portrayal of Truth, nor should it EVER be spoken to someone in pain.The enemy comes ONLY to steal, kill, and destroy, that's why the pain/attack came, not to make you stronger but to kill you.God's Grace brought you through but He didn't bring you to...God's Grace can heal you too.Selah#LiesAboutGod

Writers Block - How do you write when you don't know what to write?

So, I recently had a comment on this blog. I'm not sure if it's ligit but I think that it's a question a lot of writers ask:

"... I was curious to find out how you center yourself and cⅼear your tһoughts before writіng. I have had trouble clearing my thoughts in getting my thoughts out. I truly dߋ take pleasurе in writing, however, it just seems like the fіrѕt 10 to 15 minutes is wasted just trying to figurｅ out how to begin. Any recommendations or tips? Appгеciate іt!" AnonymousJuly 1, 2017 at 4:31 PM

The way this is phrase means that this is either a spam comment or it's just a google translate comment. Not sure. Nevertheless, it's a good question.

Having a mind that is clear isn't necessary for writing. Writing requires thoughts. My professor once said: "Throw up on the page, we can clean it up afterward". And that's done wonders for me. If you are going to write, just start. You could end up with something so long and winding that you…

What is a Topos? A strategic position of opportunity and influence

What does Topos mean?Topos is a Greek word meaning: "Place, or Opportunity"
Properly:Any portion of space marked off, as it were, from surrounding, space Metaphorically: The condition or station held by one in any company or assemblyopportunity, power, occasion for actingA spot (general in space, but limited by occupancy; whereas chora is a large but participle locality). As used by me: Topos is a strategic position of opportunity and influence
Topos: Your Calling Everyone has a God given calling on this earth. There is something you were created and designed to do. What you are doing now may be "The Calling"; or, it may be the calling for this season of your life. Either way, you are either in your Topos, or you need to find it.

As you read the stories of biblical heros like Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Nehemiah, Peter, and Paul... etc... you find that God put them in the right place to do the right thing at the right time.

They ended up in their Topos, …

Paradox of Excellence

Paradox of Excellence:

Philippians 3:7-9 NKJV
7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

Philippians 3:7-9 Message
7 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash - along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. 8 Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant - dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that …

An eye on eternity...

Heart of the City Church

Church Notes from April 29, 2017
Living Life in the Light of Eternity: http://bible.com/events/210278
Guest speaker: Pastor Bob Johnson & his lovely wife, Cindy, with us this weekend from New City Church in Great Falls, Montana!
See Message Here

*These are my notes from church today using the YouVersion live app:

II Corinthians 4:5-16 NKJV For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus …

Valley Seasons Church Notes

Pastor JO

Heart Of The City Church
June 10, 2017
====================================
Mountains, Valleys & Plains Part 2
null
http://bible.com/events/230949
====================================
• You have to learn to live with and in the valleys.

II Corinthians 11:23-27 NKJV
Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—
http://bible.com/114/2co.11.23-27.N…

Freedom From vs Freedom ToBe

For many Freedom is understood through the lense if being free from...Addiction
Pain
Loneliness
Him/Her
The Situation
The Job
Debt
Poverty
Etc.So we follow the rat race seeking whatever we think will make us free. When that doesn't provide the freedom we sought, we seek another fix, and another... An endless cycle of seeking freedom but never being free.What if Freedom has nothing to do with whatever jail you are in, however you've defined your personal jail.What if Freedom is about becoming WHO you were always meant to be... And in that pursuit all the "other" (addiction, pain, the jails) falls off when you aren't even looking...You don't know when you got "free from", you just look back and realize you don't have all the issues you had. You have battles in front of you but you have definitely won some battles too, and you didn'teven notice you had won.It's as though the act of becoming a butterfly was so profound that you have trouble…

Your wealth of random information; DarrellWolfe.Com

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