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Week #32: Climbing
Oct. 18th - 24th Saw a few clips from a documentary about someone who climbed mountains without a rope. He also flew across the sky with a bird suit on. After each encounter with mortality he looked to be in a state of ecstasy. “When you face death and live, life becomes so simple.” He looked off camera. To wake up is to fly. Here's my week: Writing: 9 hrs Music: 4 hrs Band admin: 3 hrs Stacking days
16 hours ago1 min read
Week #30: Believing it
My writing coach talks about my wins as if they’ve already happened. I decided to follow her example
Oct 111 min read
Week #28: Bravo
A trip to New York on a whim, a friend on two different stages, and closing the gap between what I say and what I do.
Sep 201 min read
Points of failure: Adding resistance
I haven’t been able to complete a work of fiction all year. It’s frustrating. Staying the course is challenging when it feels like not much is happening.
Aug 292 min read
Points of failure: The Luis Alberto Urrea Interview
Enjoy my conversation with Luis Alberto Urrea—NY Times bestselling author, Pulitzer finalist, and genuinely the coolest guy.
Aug 11 min read
Points of failure: The full view
In April I completed something that started twenty years ago.
Apr 263 min read
Week #11: Leaving (March 29th - April 4th)
By the time anyone reads this I will be on a 30 hour drive. This was the week before leaving on a Western Canada tour and naturally, I was busy getting it all ready. I filed paperwork, sorted merchandise, ran logistics, did rehearsals, all while releasing and promoting a new song, and working a full-time job. As the days got nearer I started to feel anxious about the less enjoyable parts of tour: crossing borders, cramped hotel rooms, missing my partner, the lack of sleep, an
Apr 51 min read
Week #9: How much is enough? (March 9nd - 15th)
Since January, I’ve been writing a new short story. My schedule has been waking up weekdays at 4:30am to exercise for an hour then write 90 minutes. On weekends I do 2 to 4 hour writing blocks. This past Monday was the deadline to submit it to my editor. In this last week of writing, I had to find an extra gear: I added evening writing sessions on top of my job, gym, band rehearsals, and time with my partner. I showed up every day, whether I wanted to or not. I’d been wonderi
Mar 151 min read
Points of failure: On being content (But not done)
How clarity of purpose brought a great rejection
Feb 222 min read
Paúl Rivera Melo
Paúl Rivera Melo is a Dominican-born, Chicago-based touring musician and writer of essays and short fiction. With roots in the Caribbean, his work draws from the melodies and vocabulary of the region, while using the unique scope of his diaspora experience to craft stories of striving and survival.
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