here’s a meme that a friend posted that I want to talk about. You’ve seen it. There’s two guys looking at a figure on the ground. One of them says it’s a ‘6’, the other that it’s a ‘9’. Below is a caption that is different depending on the version you’re looking at but basically says “Just because you’re right, doesn’t mean I’m wrong.” Now, first of all, I understand that this is posted with the best of intentions from my friend. They’re basically asking for everyone to step

Man, being an optimist during a pandemic is NOT easy! Every person who works in a grocery store, gas station or convenience store that I've talked to has told me stories about how horrible people have been lately. Rude. Selfish. Impatient. But then, on the other hand, there's that picture of all those rich people spelling out WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER with their yachts. Seriously though, these are stressful times. People are worried. Worried about their jobs, their kids and pare

We are, by nature, uncomfortable with being lost. It doesn't matter if it's in a strange city, a deep forest, or life itself. We hate being lost. It's scary. Uncertainty is unsettling. But, out of all the hard lessons I've learned over the years, I think learning how to get lost is one of the most important. Back when I graduated grade school, my aunt gave me a card with the quote "One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long t

Authors like to play around with time. Time travel. Past lives. Future dreams. Even a fairly straightforward narrative still massages time. Time jumps. Flashbacks. Co-current events. I think that most of us have an uneasy relationship with time. On the one hand, it seems easy. Tick tock. tick tock. The clock never stops. We know the sun comes up, moves across the sky and sinks in the west. Day becomes night becomes day. Spring leads into summer and so on. And yet...AND YET it

"If you need more time to understand how you feel about a thing, then give yourself more time to understand how you feel about a thing." Such a simple idea, yet so hard to put into practice these days. I know I've struggled with this over the years. I've felt pressured to analyze, adjust, discard or adapt quickly to situations without allowing myself the time to really process what I was feeling. Break up with your lover? Get over it. Lose someone to cancer? Honor them and mo

Fear. It's everywhere. Fear of flying. Fear of snakes. Fear of terrorists. Fear of losing our job. Of getting hurt. Of not having enough money for rent. Of being alone. Living a life that is not dictated by fear is next to impossible. Let's be honest; the majority of our decisions are based off of fear. And yet can you imagine how different the world would be if we made decisions based off of love instead? I can barely imagine that and I'm a fairly creative person. It would b

So I'm not really the type that leaves notes to myself. At least not at home. At work I have all sorts of notes but that's only because I am responsible for keeping track of a zillion details. And my writing, of course. Lots of random notes there. In journals and notebooks and sticky notes on the desk. But that's only because I have different plot points and characters to keep tabs on. Ok, ok. Fine, I write notes. But, I don't really write notes for everyday stuff. No "don't

When I was in grade school, many many many many moons ago, I was always called the two worst insults a school-yard bully could think of: fag and nerd. And now, whether an ironic twist of fate or self-fulfilling prophesy, I am both. And I couldn't be prouder. Here's the thing: once I stopped worrying about what other people said about me, life opened up. When I was a kid, all I wanted was to fit in. To be one of the 'cool kids'. But I never was. I never fit into any the group

I consider myself a somewhat creative individual. I mean, yes, I write stories and create new worlds. But that's a lot easier than most people realize. We all do it. We all have those fever dreams that shake us out of our routines and make us question everything we think we know. We all have started telling a story to friends only to get distracted by some oddball tangent and suddenly realize we have no idea what we were talking about in the first place because we're now in a

It was a beautiful day for a funeral. A few wispy clouds floated care-free high in the sky. A breeze, just cool enough, meandered over the freshly-cut lawn. A clutch of sparrows gossiped among the leaves. All in all, you couldn’t have ask for a better day to bury someone. Ian checked the smile that threatened to lighten his face. He glanced furtively to the left and right to make sure no one saw. Smiling at funerals, he knew, was not proper. He lowered his head and trie

The end of the world is in your eyes. I see it. I see Armageddon reflected back at me. All the rage and hurt and confusion right there. I want, I wish I could say something to stave off the cataclysm that rages there. But I feel I have said too much already. I am the harbinger of this doom, after all. I need to fully acknowledge the part I played in this. I need to own this responsibility. If you were able to think lyrically at the moment, you might say I’m one of the fable

It has been said, although I have neither the time nor the inclination to verify it, that goldfish do not grow old. That is not to say that they are immortal. They can be caught by playful kittens. They can be eaten by bigger, stronger fish. They can catch diseases and die. But in the absence of such circumstances, a goldfish simply continues to live. Its body does not break down. Its internal systems do not shut off. Its muscles do not atrophy and waste away. It simply conti