Kana's Chronicles

Life in Kana-text (er… CONtext)

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author on her sailboat

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recent posts

Kana Smith holding one of her books
  1. Kana Smith's avatar

    what an apt description–I know that feeling too! Like thumbing the wheel of a lighter when there’s not enough fuel…

  2. dovalpage's avatar
  3. joannerambling's avatar
  4. Kana Smith's avatar

    I do enjoy each obsession as it’s upon me… But I will say that some of them are more USEFUL…

  5. just call me Sharon's avatar

Author: Kana Smith

  • It’s a Turtle Life

    My husband Keoni has some Dates of Importance among his tattoos.  There’s the date John hanged himself and Keoni rose from the ashes (“Shifting Paradigms and Half a Pair’o’Dimes”)…  There’s a Lucky Thirteen for our wedding anniversary…  And there’s December 23, 2008, right below the kanji meaning “A New Life.”  Today is the anniversary of…

  • A Forum on Freelancing

    Almost four months ago my seasonal job at the Idaho State Park near our house ended with the summer. My husband Keoni and I had been tossing around the idea of NOT searching for my “next job,” but doing something instead that I felt moved to do (namely, write) and treating that as though it…

  • PSA for Readers: Hello, FREE BOOKS!

    I just wanted to share this opportunity with the READERS who read here, because I have a feeling the opportunity is being mostly missed…  My friend Karen Syed at Echelon Press is offering a sweet deal between now and Christmas Eve: if you are up for writing a Reader Review of a book from Echelon…

  • Inventory Item: Right Knee, Size XL

    I’m writing from my hubby’s hospital room, where we’re “camping” for a few days.  He is in possession of a brand new knee as of yesterday (lucky 13th), and we’re learning that one size doesn’t “fit all.”  The grippy-socks they provide for patients only fit over the ends of his size-17 flippers, so he’s reclining…

  • ‘Mythbusters’ Edition: How NOT to Blog

    Just recently I came across a post listing Rules for writing a good blog–and I discovered I’ve been doing everything wrong!  Without laying out the whole rulebook, here’s the CliffsNotes edition of Somebody Else’s Rules: Pick one topic and only blog about that. People want to know what to expect from your blog. Don’t post…

  • Stand down the SWAT Team

    A kindergartner might take a glacier’s age to put on a single tennis shoe while mom impatiently rattles the car keys in the morning, but put the same kindergartner in a circle with 24 other 5-year-olds and a single tub of crayons, and they move too fast to clock.  Like iron filings to a magnet,…

  • Growing a Writer: Just Add Marker

    My daughter wanted a story.  So I began with “Once upon a time” (which parents probably recognize as the stalling technique employed while a distracted multi-tasking mom thinks of a story to tell)… but I got no further than this opening before she interrupted. “No, Mommy–a LIVING story.” Evidently Elena Grace shares my predilection for…