Writing Boots

On communication, professional and otherwise.

Digging out

01.05.2010 by David Murray // 2 Comments

My "vacations" are usually frenzied adventures. By the time I get home, my sedentary editing work is a respite.

But a week of sailing through the Virgin Islands in the bosom of family (at its bosomy best) leaves me feeling foggy, as if I slept too long.

Yesterday in a taxicab on St. Thomas I turned to my nephew and co-vacationer Danny and asked him if he could have done two weeks on the sailboat.

"I could have done two years," he said.

It'll be two pots of coffee this morning.

Categories // Uncategorized Tags // sailboat, vacation, Virgin Islands

Closed for the holidays

12.24.2009 by David Murray // 3 Comments

Last week corporate cartoonist Grant Brownrigg sent a note to his customers:

We will be closed Dec. 24 thru Dec. 28.

I liked that.

I think I'll put something like that e-mail auto-reply for today thru Jan. 4.

Not, "I'm out of the country" (my usual ruse), not, "I'm taking some time off and checking e-mail sporadically," not even the truth: "I'm on a sailboat with limited Internet access."

That nonsense doesn't work anymore, because everybody knows there's Internet access everywhere except along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

So we're back to just plain old, "Sorry, We're Closed."

Good.

But before I swing the sign around, I'd like to share what I've been sharing with all my writer friends (and I don't know who has more of 'em than I do).

It's the last words of Charlotte's Web: "Wilbur never forgot Charlotte. … It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both."

Happy Holidays, my Charlottes.

January 5, I'll be back on the web.

Categories // Uncategorized Tags // auto reply, Charlotte's Web, closed for the holidays, true friend and good writers, vacation

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