I've been thinking about alternative timelines. What if the election of 2000 had gone differently? What if I hadn't asked to live with my mom? What if I had reacted differently in a bad situation? What if Archduke Ferdinand hadn't been assassinated? What if I had ignored that near panic attack and gone dancing that …
These are strange times. Everything I've thought to write seems beside the point. To say I dislike uncertainty seems silly. Few of us do. Some people say they do, but I tend think they mean uncertainty within reason. Some people shrug and say they've been working from home for years and nothing much has changed. …
I spent a lot of time alone as a child. The first reason is that I was an only child. But some only children are surrounded by people, cousins, neighborhood children. I have lots of cousins but they all lived hundreds of miles away. I saw a few of them when they came to see …
My second October as a Peace Corps volunteer and my second month into a new relationship, I got sick. Very sick. I must've had the flu, but I never received a proper diagnosis. Bulgarian friends and coworkers said I had The Grip, which this website tells me is the flu. (I've written about this before, …
A couple of weeks ago at a Death Cafe, people talked about whether they were afraid of death and what it meant to live without that fear. I've been thinking about things people said. Keep in mind it's a room full of strangers trying to voice thoughtful perspectives on big questions in a short amount …
My mother would be 76 years old today if she were around to experience such earthly things as birthdays. Now I for one don't believe in heaven or hell, but should these places exist, do the dead celebrate birthdays? I would think not. "I'm 202 years old now, 64 of those years on Earth." Would …
How does your year end? Hurtling itself over the finish line with whoops and streaming ribbons? Crawling, tired and dazed, in poorly fitting clothes? Sauntering perhaps, but needing to remind itself once again what year it actually was? In any event, the year moves on, tipping its hat or taking a swing at the mile …
Last night I worked on a story for Story-a-Day. When the story began, I was sure a particular character was dead. As I came to the ending though, I brought her back to life. It wasn't because I loved her so much I couldn't let her go. Instead, I couldn't put her best friend through …
If you had time, I'd ask you to read all my manuscripts and tell me which one is the best. It feels like an insanely important decision, except it isn't, is it? I have too many choices. It was easy when only one novel had been written. As a kid I had elaborate systems to …
I do my best to avoid the Could-Have-Been Monster. Who isn't familiar with it? Who sitting alone late a night staring at a screen of one kind or another hasn't felt it lurking in the shadows reaching for a hunched over shoulder? It is a patient monster, never really giving up, always there waiting for …
