I am publishing excerpts from past journal entries as a way to excavate my own history. These have been lightly edited for clarity. Edits are notated in the passages. A strange thought crossed my mind today. That despite all the vagaries of my love life and the occasional torment of work, these last six months…
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Zen and the Art of Political Resistance
In the wake of 4th of July and the verdicts coming down from the Supreme Court, I have been reflecting on all that is happening in our world, especially the sense of doom and hopelessness felt by so many. There is a palpable sense that the world is heading downhill for good, that there’s nothing…
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Resurrecting The Blog
Does anyone still read blog posts? Follow blog authors? Read individual posts that come across your feed that aren’t published by Politico or Mother Jones? Are blogs still a thing? It doesn’t seem like anyone reads blogs anymore. It seems like both readers and authors have abandoned blogs in favor of Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and…
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Running as Solace
In the face of great collective loneliness during the pandemic, spending time running on trails has offered a different kind of solitude. 2020 was a year of reckoning: with society, with our government, with ourselves. As we turned inwards to combat the pandemic, stopped seeing our friends and families, and dramatically altered our social habits,…
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The Paths Between The Stars
More than half a decade ago, a story was birthed here on this blog. For fans of Philip Pullman and Neil Gaiman comes my newest novel, THE PATHS BETWEEN THE STARS, a genre-bending story about a young girl finding her way after a devastating loss. Due out in 2021, I’ll offer a complimentary copy to…
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Scars
On the lessons we learn as we age One of the interesting things about getting older is that you learn. You actually do learn. People older than you always talk about this learning experience, but it’s hard to believe until you see it for yourself. You actually learn things about the world as you grow…
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Book Review: Kinnara by Kevin Ansbro
“Why does nobody believe that I saw the evil spirit that day? They make offerings to phantoms, and yet when I offer them actual proof of one, they laugh in my face!” Kinnara by Kevin Ansbro is a charming book with a delightful tone and a happy ending. It interweaves magical realism, mythology, and travel narrative…
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What Lightning in a Bottle Music Festival Taught Me About Writing Great Characters
A music festival might not seem the ideal place to spend a lot of time thinking about writing, but that’s pretty much all I thought about while I was at Lightning in a Bottle, an electronic music festival at Lake San Antonio, California. Lightning in a Bottle is no ordinary music festival. It’s not like Sasquatch or…
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A Meditation on Lunch, or, Why You Should Eat Alone Sometimes
I work at home. My partner works at a winery in the area, so except for the rare occasion once a month or so when he comes home midday, I eat lunch alone every day. Lunch is an opportunity to break up the day’s tasks. Usually I try to get a certain amount of editing…
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Why it’s Totally Okay if You Haven’t Read My Books (and Why it’s Almost Always Okay to Not Read Someone’s Book)
Sometimes when I run into acquaintances or old friends, people I’ve stayed in touch with via social media, one of the first things I hear is “I’m sorry I haven’t read your books yet!” My response is usually something like, “Why are you sorry? It’s not your job to read my books.” I’m constantly surprised…
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The Z-Axis 