A finished story isn’t meant to stay pristine and isolated — it’s meant to get dog-eared, creased, bookmarked, and highlighted. It’s meant to get dirtied by critiques, loved by some readers, hated by others, passed around, or given away.

Years ago, I was sitting in a dark bar at some casino, watching purple lights dance off of a blue waterfall and an orange fire pit.  A lone musician sat in the corner with an electric keyboard and synthesizer, and two lonely dollar bills in a beer mug.  Me and Cynthia, my co-worker, were winding [...]

There’s a piece of lavender stretched across the sky, a rough patch of color in-between gray and white clouds. If it were warmer, I’d stand outside and take a moment to appreciate its difference, but it’s freezing outside, and I seem to have misplaced my only warm coat. It’s likely in one of [...]

I feel like I should give some disclaimer to this piece, some explanation of why, not only because the topic is tough, but also because it’s become a cliche.  Writers, film makers, and students alike have been steered away from the topic of child abuse — it’s been done, the subject is stale, and every [...]

A few days ago, a devastating thing happened. It doesn’t really matter what the thing was – and I will tell the story one day when it’s not as raw – but trust me, it was bad, and I’m not likely to forget about it anytime soon.
After the devastating thing happened, I took a [...]

I recently had cause to remember The Year that Blew My Mind. It wasn’t mind-blowing in a good way – the oyster of the world didn’t open up and reveal any grand pearls of wisdom – instead, my gray matter was challenged to find reason for the unreasonable, and causes for the inexcusable. [...]