writing | D. Brent Miller

January 4, 2023

New Year, New Me?

I never make New Year resolutions. Really. New Year goals? Well not exactly. Is that a problem? Maybe, and here is what I am going to do about it.

It has been on my mind for some time. A couple of years maybe. Since I have semi-retired … let’s face the reality … fully retired, I have not done much writing or photography except for on Facebook and photography on Instagram. Why should I post my creative material on those social medias when I have my own? That question was driven home by an article posted on The Verge, and shared on FB by a good friend, Bring Back Personal Blogging.

This year, with the weather cooperating, I managed to get in my first ride of the year. January 1, 2023, I took the Moto Guzzi V85tt Adventure for a short ride. Proof is in the second photo, a photo I always wanted to capture.

I have ridden past this sign many, many times, but it always seems to be in the afternoon when the sun is on the other side of the sign and the light is wrong. On this day, it was perfect, and my ride is documented by the date and time of the sign. “Welcome to Morrow” Ohio, a small town near my home. I suppose I can mark this item off my list of motorcycle ride photos.

So, I’m going to do a little more motorcycling this year including some long-distance travels. I’ll be writing about those.

I’m going to be writing about other things too, ideas that harken back to my earlier web site, Sojourn Chronicles. More photography, and especially Black & White photography. I love B&W. Nearly all of my documentary work was shot on B&W film, as was much of my newspaper work. Oh, those were the days. Now, it’s all digital for there is no dark room space here at the galactic headquarters.

The plan is more frequent posts right here. And, I’d like to get that frequency to weekly. Stay tuned.

See you on the highway.

Brent

October 10, 2019October 10, 2019

Revisiting: Fly Fish Brent

For some time, I have been thinking about making changes and producing content a little differently. But more often than not, what goes around, comes around. I tried writing fly fishing content on a separate blog, but that just was not working. So, more of my posts here will be dedicated to my fly fishing activities. There will always be a little travel involved in these posts, and sometimes it will involve a fly fishing adventure. Much of my fly fishing has been one of service. Service to the Veterans and Volunteers of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc.

Every now and then, I take off on the motorcycle to do a little fly fishing for myself.

See you on the highway… or maybe on the water.

Brent

April 15, 2019April 15, 2019

Retirement, what is it good for?

It seems I have been fighting this for some time. A realization. People would ask me if I am retired, and I would give them my standard answer, “I am semi-retired, but I still do a little writing and photography.” If they asked my wife, she would say, “Oh yeah. He’s retired.”

And that 1970 song by Edwin Starr keeps ringing in my head, “War! What is it good for? … Absolutely nothing.” Maybe that song sticks in my head because I was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1970 and went to Vietnam in 1971. I did my best. I served my country. But, what exactly was that war all about?

I kind of feel like that about retirement. What is retirement really all about? What is it good for? There is some reality that must be faced, and it comes with new opportunities and challenges. First, there is a lot of freedom in retirement. No schedule that you have to keep. You can sleep in, or get up every morning before 6:30 like I do with or without an alarm clock. You can do the things you want and go to places you have always wanted to see. Of course, there are financial considerations.

You can do things for others. Put others first. Serve others. There can be a lot of joy in serving others, and it’s not like work in a dreary job, where no one or few appreciate your efforts.

In retirement, I have found joy in volunteering. To serve others. To help bring someone else along or lift them up. To share skills and knowledge. Yes, there are some schedules to keep, and accountability, but there is joy. Fulfillment. Happiness.

I have concluded that I am actually not retired. I am 68 years old and a Volunteer. And, I will keep writing and photographing, but just for me. You can read along, if you want, here in these pages.

See you on the highway.

Brent

March 27, 2017

A Reporter’s Notebook

What would we do without notebooks—the kind you actually write in?

I often wonder if they are becoming obsolete. Everything is digital today or soon will be, and that is a detriment of our society, our culture.

The latest book I am reading is Digital Storytelling. It’s about “capturing lives and creating community.” Thousands of years ago, before there was a written language, we had oral storytelling. Even our religious books—the Bible, the Quran, etc., began as oral histories. Even what is considered the oldest story in the world, the story of Gilgamesh, from between the land of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, a thousand years older than the bible, was an oral story before it was recorded on baked clay tablets in cuneiform characters—a very ancient “notebook.”

And now? We have digital storytelling. Digital cameras. Digital audio recorders. Computers, laptops and iPads. What has happened to the good old pencil and paper?

Here’s what a notebook does for me. It slows me down to gather my thoughts, and then to put them on paper. Impulsive thoughts may come and go, but they are always self critiqued. That’s when a good eraser comes in or lining out that sentence or paragraph.

There is a drawback, a negative to good old fashioned pen and paper. The difficulty is coming back to something I wrote sometime ago and trying to decipher my hand writing! When it’s no longer fresh in my mind, that scribbling can be terribly hard to read. Maybe I should have paid more attention to penmanship in grade school.

On the other hand, the benefits of a notebook are portability and reliability. It takes up very little space. A notebook operates consistently even if the user does not. It can be easily carried in a pocket, purse camera gear bag, briefcase or backpack. It requires no electricity nor a wireless connection. And perhaps the most profound use of a pen and notebook is that it is capable or recording the deepest thoughts of the user, if the user is willing to reveal themselves.

So, how did this post come to be? I wrote it in a notebook, and then transcribed it on the computer. The notebook came first. The computer allowed me to publish it.

A good old-fashioned notebook! Don’t leave home without it.

See you on the highway.

Brent

End note: If you have never read the story of Gilgamesh, do yourself a favor and visit your library. It is a wonderful piece of ancient literature, full of friendship, love and tragedy. Enough so that one episode of Star Trek Next Generation was wrapped around this ancient story, “Darmok” Season 5, Episode 2. It first aired September 28, 1991.

August 8, 2016

Thank you, Andie MacDowell

Sometimes, you just need a good kick in the butt to restart something. In my case, I decided the University of New Mexico Writer’s Workshop at Santa Fe was just the ticket to get my writing juices rejuvenated.

And, it was. The instructor, Stephen Benz, was very good at helping us focus on our writing voices, and my classmates were helpful with their comments and feedback. That’s how a writer’s workshop is supposed to work, and the Santa Fe workshop was well worth the time and effort.

But there are other opportunities for rejuvenation, and mine came on a 15 second ride on the elevator.

I like to rise early, get a cup of coffee and do a little writing and checking e-mail and Facebook. I had done that, and was ready for more coffee and some breakfast. I walked to the Drury Inn elevator, and pushed the down button.

The doors open. There are three people going down—two men and a woman, and it does not appear that any of them are together. It’s the way they are standing and riding the elevator—like strangers giving each other distance. I step aboard, and say to the woman who is standing at the controls and say, “Second floor, please.” I watch her smile, turn and press the button. She looks very familiar. She is lovely, even in her sweats and t-shirt. Jammies?

It took me about five seconds to think, “This is Andy MacDowell the actress.” In that moment, I think I slopped some coffee because I felt it on my hand, and looked down to make sure I didn’t slop coffee on me.

We arrive at the 2nd Floor, and we all walk off the elevator to the breakfast area. She walks to the coffee bar, grabs a cup and fills it, then disappears back to the elevator.

It’s not often that a guy from the Midwest meets a celebrity. Such a chance encounter is unheard of, and frankly, I wanted another glimpse to see if my first guess was correct.

This moment at the writer’s workshop fueled my passion for writing again, writing about this encounter, writing about all my other adventures. It became my muse. She became my muse.

Through the day, while passing through the hotel to my class or back to my room, I’d glance around, hoping for another encounter, but it was not to be. I thought about what I might say to this woman, but there was no sighting. I would have to settle for that brief moment in the elevator.

So, if it was you, Andie MacDowell, the lovely and talented actress, thank you for that smile and brief encounter on the elevator. And if it was not you, but someone who could have been your twin, I was at least half right. Just lovely. Thank you.

Brent