It has been said that to read is to inhale and to write is to exhale. I would expand that to say that experience is inhalation and creation is exhalation. Reading is just one way of experiencing the world. It allows you to live experiences not your own, but it’s also important to gather your own lived experiences. If you’ve read my work for any length of time, you’re aware of how I exhale (i.e. create), but today I’d like to talk about what I inhale. What you take in has a great deal to do with what you produce, and I’ve found that a balance of the following seven…
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A Vision Board Going Into 2026
New Year’s might be my next favorite holiday after Halloween. After being a child who shed tears over every insignificant change, I’ve become an adult who loves a chance to start anew. I think it began in college, when I discovered that the winter break between semesters allowed me to come back and reorganize my living space and start the next semester far more effectively. Spring semester was almost always better than the fall as a result. If I could reintroduce one aspect of college life into my adult career, it would be the clear endings and beginnings, along with the chance to clean house and start over. Since graduating…
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You Might Be a Veteran of Mental Illness If…
Mental illness is a lot more visible and acceptable to discuss now than it was even one generation ago, but it’s still no cakewalk living with it on a daily basis. So if your day-to-day involves popping pills (that were prescribed to you) and describing how you’re doing using terms that 300-level psychology undergrads haven’t encountered yet, this list is for you. If you haven’t wrestled with a disorder yourself, you might wonder what it’s like. There are plenty of articles out there that can fill you in on the science behind mental illness as we understand it. It might be a good idea to start there. But no list…
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Being Haunted by That One Story
What if I told you I’ve been working on the same story for twelve years? I’ve outlined and attempted to start this story multiple times, but it always fails. And whenever I try to explain the concept to someone, it’s too vague to describe. It lives in the back of my mind while I work on other projects, always searching for inspiration. I’ve collected images on Pinterest, made countless playlists, and drawn or designed its characters again and again. Pages of thoughts litter my inspiration notebook, going back generations of notebooks in my desk drawer. I feel like Charles Muntz tracking the bird in the movie Up, when he tells…
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My No. 1 Criticism of Literary Academia
Let me be clear about one thing: I loved getting my English degree. I loved my professors and how they helped me to sharpen my skills as a writer and a critical reader. I loved getting to have discussions with and learn from people who thought differently from me. Most of all, I loved being in a community of people who care as much as I do about the stories we tell. That being said, I always felt as if literary academics and I were not quite on the same page (no pun intended). As the years have gone on, so has my struggle to put into words the exact…
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My Writing Space Essentials
Writers are strange, often solitary creatures. And like all creatures, they require the correct habitat in order to thrive. Proper care and feeding can help your writer produce better quality and more consistent work, and though it cannot guarantee they will keep their butt in the chair and their hands on the keys, it can certainly help. Specifically, every writer has his or her own hang-ups when it comes to their writing space. Here are some of mine! It’s probably fairly typical for a creator to need a space that minimizes distractions and interruptions. But I also think it’s important to minimize feelings of self-consciousness. Maybe you’ve had this problem:…
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Judging Books by Their Covers, Part 2: Things That Will Make Me Pick Up a Book Every Time
In spite of the age-old adage, we all have to find what we like to read somehow, and covers give you the first taste of a book. From the more obvious elements like the title and cover art to more subtle aspects like the shape, size, and even texture, the title is your handshake and the cover is your interview. And as any marketer will tell you, you don’t have more than a few seconds to either wow readers or kiss them goodbye. There are lots of books in this world, after all, and they don’t have time to give too many second chances. I’ve already written about my top…
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I’m Bad at Resting. Here’s What Has Helped.
I have a weird relationship with rest. The pressures of guilt, anxiety, and the after-effects of busyness hum in the background like a constantly-running machine. Even on my days off, I often find myself sitting on the couch, unable to focus on the Restful Activity I’ve chosen, watching the clock like I’m still at work, and wondering if I’m resting productively enough. Somehow we’ve managed to turn rest into another obligation, another checklist item, and one we even try to multitask! Trying to observe the Sabbath has further complicated how I feel about rest. Resting on the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments. So having been commanded to rest,…
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Office Space (a Song Parody)
A parody of Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” for the job search and workplace Hey, I found you on LinkedIn!We can talk about remote work.Our pay is competitive.Saw your profile and I thought,“This one’s skills will help our case!The job search is a desperate place.How low can we keep her pay?” Firm handshake, hopeful eyesI can read you like a magazineDressed to impress, do or dieAnd I know the truth’s on GlassdoorBut hey, I’ll pretendOur reputation’s on the mendOur work culture means we’re friendsI’ll make you force a smile while you’re going off the deep end. So it’s gonna be foreverOr it’s gonna go down in flamesYou’ll pretend that it was…
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Mental Illness: Things I Wish I Had Known
I will not attempt to fit 29 years of a life marred by mental illness into a single blog article. However, in the spirit of Mental Health Awareness Month, I would like to offer up a few thoughts that would have benefited me immensely as I navigated my own journey. I didn’t learn these things until I’d suffered through years of pain, shame, and confusion, avoiding help because I feared judgment. But maybe I can ease yours by offering what I’ve learned. If you’ve had even peripheral experience with mental illness, you’ve surely experienced your share of well-intentioned and negligibly researched advice on the subject. Here is a list of…