A philosophy of presence, clarity, and living without a script
For most of my life, I lived inside stories I didn’t write—beliefs inherited from Southern Baptist fundamentalism, identities assigned by culture and career, expectations passed down long before I ever had a chance to choose my own path. I spent six decades assuming those stories were me. I didn’t realize how small that space had become until the first crack of doubt let in light.
What followed wasn’t a dramatic collapse but a quiet unraveling. Certainty softened. Purpose dissolved. Identity loosened its grip.
In the empty space that remained, something unexpected emerged: presence.
Not a spiritual practice. Not a new set of beliefs. Not a philosophy to memorize.
Just the felt experience of this moment—unfiltered, unassigned, unhurried.
Over time, that simple shift grew into something I now call The Pencil-Driven Life.
Why a Pencil?
The pencil is humble. It makes tentative marks. It erases easily. It invites exploration, revision, and curiosity.
For me, the pencil became a symbol of liberation—the opposite of dogma, rigidity, or inherited certainty. It represents a way of moving through the world with:
- openness instead of answers
- curiosity instead of conclusions
- awareness instead of identity
The pencil doesn’t demand perfection. It encourages noticing. It allows the hand to move without fear.
You don’t need to be a writer to live the Pencil-Driven Life. You only need to be willing to see your life as something unfolding, not something predetermined.
What the Pencil-Driven Life Really Means
1. Living Without a Script
Most of us don’t realize we’re following a script—religious, political, familial, cultural. We inherit beliefs long before we understand them. We defend identities we didn’t choose. We follow purposes that were assigned, not discovered.
The Pencil-Driven Life begins when we gently step outside that script and notice the space that opens.
2. Seeing What’s True, Not What’s Expected
Letting go of inherited beliefs taught me something surprising: what remains is not emptiness but clarity.
Clarity to see what matters. Clarity to question what doesn’t. Clarity to let the moment speak for itself.
3. Letting Life Unfold, One Mark at a Time
Presence is not an achievement—it’s the natural state that returns when striving stops. Living the Pencil-Driven Life means allowing:
- thoughts to come and go
- identities to soften
- beliefs to loosen
- life to be what it is
Instead of forcing a storyline, we learn to witness the one unfolding in real time.
Where This Philosophy Lives: Oak Hollow
Much of this transformation has taken place on our seventy acres in North Alabama—land we call Oak Hollow.
Here, on this mix of woods, trails, a grass runway, and off-grid cabins, presence has become not an idea but a daily practice:
- walking at sunrise
- building cabins board by board
- planning a greenhouse in the center of our raised-bed garden
- listening to seven rescued dogs breathing beside me
- letting days unfold without a script or agenda
Oak Hollow is not yet a business; it’s the ground where the Pencil-Driven Life is unfolding in real time. Over the coming months, as cabins and quiet spaces take shape, Oak Hollow will grow into a place others can visit or live and experience for themselves. For now, it remains a personal laboratory for presence and simplicity.
How Writing Fits Into This
Writing has been the thread running through every stage of my life—from my first novel in 2015 to the manuscripts I’m working on now. But writing, for me, is no longer about output, craft, or perfection.
It is awareness.
Each sentence is an act of seeing. Each paragraph is a moment of presence. Each revision is a reminder that nothing is fixed—not words, not beliefs, not identity.
Writing is not the purpose of the Pencil-Driven Life. It is simply one of its clearest expressions.
What You’ll Find Here
On this site—and through my weekly series Unscripted—I explore the lived experience of:
- stepping out of inherited stories
- letting go of certainty and purpose
- discovering clarity in ordinary life
- living without a script
- allowing rather than striving
- seeing instead of believing
- writing as awareness
- finding peace in the present moment
These reflections are not teachings or instructions. They are observations from a life that is no longer directed by identity, purpose, or belief—but by simple, clear noticing.
The Heart of the Pencil-Driven Life
At its core, the Pencil-Driven Life is an invitation:
Let your life be unwritten. Let the next mark be light. Let the moment show you what’s true.
There is no doctrine here. No system. No correct interpretation. No required conclusions.
Only this:
A pencil makes its mark by touching what is already here. So do we.
The Pencil Driven Life 