The Hate U Give

Posted on March 2, 2019March 2, 2019 by Gregory

This is an amazing and remarkable book. It’s engaging and incredibly well written. I felt quickly invested in Starr’s life and journey and found myself sad when the story ended. The novel is the journey of Starr, a sixteen-year-old who witnesses the death of two childhood friends: one at the hands of a cop; one […]

Incognito

Posted on December 3, 2018December 2, 2018 by Gregory

We went to see A Public Fit’s production of Incognito (A play by Nick Payne).I can see possibly why they chose this show. It’s a challenge for 4 actors to play a combined 21 roles and a challenge, I’m sure, for the director to put all those pieces and moving parts together. The company was […]

Becoming

Posted on December 2, 2018November 30, 2018 by Gregory

I LOVED Becoming by Michelle Obama. I opted, as I so often do, for the audio version. This allowed me to spend more than 19 hours with the former First Lady. The book is thoughtfully and well written. There are clear messages and themes of becoming. It’s interesting to me to see the journey of […]

Building Something New

Posted on November 30, 2018November 28, 2018 by Gregory

For so many years I’ve found myself easily distracted. I still am. The magpie distracted by the latest shiny object. During 2018, I discovered, again, the idea of sticking to my focus. What is it that I want? I want to write and I want to teach. I’m good at both and I want more. […]

Zen in the Art of Writing

Posted on November 28, 2018November 26, 2018 by Gregory

Zen in the Art of Writing by Bradbury has been a great influence on my writing career. I love one of the returning refrains throughout this collection of essays, that we need to show up and write every day (his prescription is 1000 words a day and a short story a week) and that through quantity […]

My View of the World

Posted on November 24, 2018November 22, 2018 by Gregory

So often, this is my view of the world. I head out on a desert back road, looking for wide open spaces and big skies, for mountains and desert, for Joshua Tree forests and fields of cacti. I love being out and about in the world. Seeing fluffy clouds in blue skies, exploring the less-traveled […]

#OptOutside

Posted on November 23, 2018November 22, 2018 by Gregory

It’s Black Friday. I’ve never really been a fan of shopping, not really. I like having things, but to be out in crowds and throngs and hordes of people shopping just for the sake of shopping, I’ve never really seen the point. Years ago, many years ago, we stopped shopping for gifts for the holidays. […]

Lake Mead

Posted on November 18, 2018November 17, 2018 by Gregory

For my weekly artist date (#artistdate), I bought a new Annual Parks Pass (America the Beautiful pass) and took a drive along the North Shore of Lake Mead. I stopped at a few points to take pictures and I spent a little time walking around the red rock outcrops. I haven’t stopped there in over […]

NaNoWriMo Check In

Posted on November 16, 2018November 14, 2018 by Gregory

Here we are at the middle of November. I’m please to say I’ve been writing every day. Well, I missed one day during the travel related to my Salt Lake City trip a few weeks ago. Anyway, I’m more than halfway to the 50,000 words and it feels great. There are a few moments in […]

The Lion King

Posted on November 14, 2018November 12, 2018 by Gregory

One of my favorite places in Las Vegas is the Smith Center. We hold an annual subscription to the Broadway Series. (We used to have a subscription to the Las Vegas Philharmonic, too, but our conductor is so bad we had to cancel. When and if they replace him, we’ll return.) The latest show was […]

Gregory A. Kompes

Author…Teacher…Writing Coach

Category: Inspiration