Friday, January 3, 2020



—I’M VERY TIRED, BUT I STILL LOVE YOU

“Grief, I’ve learned, is really just love.  It’s all the love you want to give, but cannot. All of that unspent love gathers at the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, that hollow space in your chest.  Grief is just love with no place to go.” Jamie Anderson

“Aging is a privilege.”  Rene Zellweger

“Maybe you need a poem about grace.” Robert Hass

“He was never interested in what we did yesterday.  It was always about today, about now.”  Roy Disney, on his brother Walt

"We experience pain and difficulty as failure instead of saying, I will pass through this, everyone I have ever admired has passed through this, music has come out of this, literature has come out of it." Marilynne Robinson

“Everyone dies one day.  Everyone.  Even wolves.  But not books.  Not words.  Words don’t die.”   Three-year-old, Jack Hazelton

"For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love." Carl Sagan

“I think a long time ago, I learned how important it was to show up a little bit early, Be ready to go, you know? And to respect the whole process, and I think that you can respect the whole process even when the other people don’t.” -Tom Hanks

“Hands are unbearably beautiful.  They hold onto things.  They let things go.”  Mary Ruefle

“You can’t move fast enough to outrun grief.” Gina Frangello

“Don’t tell anybody anything.  If you do, you start to miss everybody.” -Holden

“Maybe this could just be a story that makes you feel better.” Tom Junold

“We’re not writing for children, we’re writing for the child still inside of all of us.” Paul Williams

“The good news is I’m better, for the time we spent together, the bad news is you’re gone.” Paul Williams

"The poet has an obligation to dissect his own corpse and reveal the symptoms of its illness to the world.” -Natsume Sosaki

“My religion is very simple.  My religion is kindness.” Dalai Lama

"“I know of a little girl who was drawing with crayons in school,” he said. “The teachers asked her about her drawing, and the little girl said, ‘Oh, I am making a picture of God.’ The teacher said, ‘But no one knows what God looks like.’ The little girl smiled and answered, ‘They will now.’ ”

“I live in gratitude and trust.” -Paul Williams

"You say you want to write. But you don’t want to soil your dress, do you? Or mangle your flesh, court insomnia and hunt nightmares in a seamless seclusion that requires CPR? Of course not. You thought writing a reasonable profession. You thought you could wear linen and gloves. You didn’t realize the habitual hazards of this art form, the contagious derangement, the exposure and subsequent addiction to toxins, the delirium of thirty hours in stark communion with a self that is insatiable for discovery. In a week you don’t recognize your face in the mirror. Lamplight has burned your skin like radiation. You crave cutting tools and poisons. And that is just the beginning." -Kate Braverman

“Still absorbing the news that Kate Braverman died last night in Santa Fe. Some women change your life.” -Janet Finch

"Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within." James Baldwin

“Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” -Margaret Atwood*

"It's not enough to just survive something, that's not the point of life. You have got to thrive." Meghan Markel

“Getting older is a fascinating gift. And I am deeply grateful for it.” Alina Stefanescu

“I paint flowers so they will not die.” Frida Kahlo

Wednesday, January 1, 2020



—ANYWHERE I GO, THERE YOU ARE

…Happy New Year.  Happy New Decade.  Let’s make them unforgettable somehow.

…Today is also my nephew, Lucas’s birthday.  That special little guy just turned two.  This is him:




…I had a little under 100 pieces published this year, a big improvement from the last two years, but nothing like when I first started writing full-time.  I’m getting back on the submission train, though, starting tomorrow.

I did get some really nice comments of late that made me feel worthy of calling myself a writer:


-I’m nobody to say, but you’re as real as it gets, Len.

-Thank you for sharing Len - you are a brilliant writer, so inspiring. Your flash writing is the best.

- I read this yesterday, Len, and it remains in my head. Such an honest heartache. Thank you for writing it and sharing it. X

-I related to this, utterly. Here's to sharing your discoveries!

-Beautifully written Len! I totally relate too.

-For many of us Len, you have always been 'more than' and we feel blessed because of it - hope you can feel that

-I love this. You sure have a way with words. Incredible writer.

- I really enjoyed reading this short dialogue. All I can say is that if people really knew you as a person they would be astonished. I love you as you are and I really don't see an active earthworm. God has given you a talent to use words that have personal meanings. Our family is blessed.

-Great story Len! I am proud to say you are our very talented writer & a person that everyone loves.

-The Recognition Meeting stories were many about Madison, the light of your life. They were notable and still treasured-the fact that you would share such personal stories and turn them into lessons learned. Thank you, Len.

-Kuntz is a bit like Rapunzel with his ability to spin wheat into gold! I always admire and enjoy his words too.

-That isn't easy to do, it is pretty magical to find a new way to say something ordinary.

-I love anything Len Kuntz writes.

-Love Len Kuntz’s work. Every time I hear about a new book, or a new story, I must read, because his writing stuns me right where it should.

The one and only Len Kuntz.  Amazing.

-I’ve been meaning to message you. I taught your flash story in Best Small Fictions and they absolutely loved it.

-Len, I just read your 2nd place micro in the micro-madness contest and I have to say the imagery and emotions are all mind-blowing.  A big Wow for being able to say so much in so little.  It deserves the first place, to be honest.  Congratulations.
And I really love your heart-felt blog entry/pieces in Ghost Parachute.  I have great respect for you.
I know that writers need more than just a comment or congrats here and there.  I swear once I’ve got some extra money, I’m buying your work and supporting you.  Your writing is beautiful and inspirational and worth the time and money.

-Hi Len, 

Hope all is well with you. I may or may not have already told you this, but I feature a line from your story, "Scarecrows" in my upcoming Skillshare class. I also have included the whole story on a list of recommended reading. 
Thanks for being so damned talented, Len. : )




…Here are some things I like to start the year off right:

…This is short and hilarious:


…This is incredible:
Lotte: 0 to 20


-Thank you from Roald Dahl.

-Lots of love for this:

-And this:


-“The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.” John Green, Looking for Alaska


-“When someone loves you, the way they talk about you is different. You feel safe and comfortable.” Jess C. Scott

-“I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.” Jimi Hendrix

-“You know, a long time ago being crazy meant something.  Now everybody’s crazy.” Charles Manson.

-“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” -Andy Warhol

-“Be patient—even with chaos.” Lydia Davis

-“A poet is a one who feels wrong in a wrong world but is willing to try to say it.  A poet is a person who says I am wrong and you are wrong, but I to admit it, so I am a poet.”  Rachel Zucker


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIxmuRbwjoY