Writers can’t hide from this technology any longer — My fingers trembled on my desk. I had achieved something great — and all it cost was everything. I asked myself, was I really going through with this? I stood on the precipice of a decision that would upend my entire writing life. Was I truly about to jump? I…

This aggression will not stand — I am down bad for books. Reading ’em, writing ’em, looking at their pictures, slipping off their jackets and running my finger down their spine. We all have our thing. Some people like ropes and candle wax, others go for codpieces and cuffs. And guess what. Whatever you choose, all…

Welcome to Nordstrom, I am your nightmares made manifest — I met the devil in a North Florida Nordstrom, and her name was Gaslighting Gail. Gaslighting Gail was a prim little twig draped in a waterfall of Lilly Pulitzer. Her skin had a moneyed glow and she wore shoes that could fund scholarships. One glance was enough to tell she…

You won’t figure it until you’re suspended above the void — How ready do you have to be to start something new? Do you study it for a week? A month? A year? When will you decide you finally know enough to get started? I’m going to let you in on a secret. You’re not preparing — you’re procrastinating. I know…

People connect with good storytelling for a reason — There is no one in the universe who can tell your story better than you. Not your friends, not your parents — no one. And readers want your story. They read you for you. Nothing gets me to ditch a Medium article or a Substack newsletter quicker than a tidy…

Shortcuts can only get you so far — I need to share a secret with you. I almost quit writing online, and I’m afraid you might quit too. I don’t want that to happen. I want nothing less, because I know you have things to say, stories to tell, and I know that if you keep at this…

Growing up, I couldn’t imagine it would happen this soon — Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is about to be a grandmother. She was a teenager when she had her son. Said son is currently a teenager himself and he is expecting his first child. That means that Lauren Boebert will be a grandmother at age 36. The news is taking Washington, D.C…

Some lessons they just can’t teach in a classroom — It’s an otherworldly feeling to answer without hesitation a question asked in a stranger’s tongue in that stranger’s same tongue. It changes you in small but profound ways when you catch a sudden glimpse of how deeply your brain has rewired its circuits after months and years of studying a…

Verdict: Grade-A Moron, Your Honor — It started, like most problems in my life, because I was hungry. When I look back on that day and the whirlwind that ensued, I can’t help but marvel at the small events that cascaded into a waterfall of me being legally deemed an utter idiot. …