While I was driving, I heard a new song called Issues. (Sample lyrics: 'Cause I got issues, but you got 'em too/So give 'em all to me and I'll give mine to you). It reminded me of something I think of often: self-fulfilling prophecies.Parenting is such a giant responsibility because we are setting these people... Continue Reading →
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She Used To Be Mine
Last year, Bob Dylan won the Nobel prize. Some people said song lyrics aren't poetry/literature. This is one of my favorite songs from the week. I might start a thread of favorite songs, actually. Music is inspiring or hopeful or sad or relatable or sometimes all of those things. When the music swells and Sara pushes... Continue Reading →
my void, my aloneness, my self
At any rate, that’s how I started running. Thirty three—that’s how old I was then. Still young enough, though no longer a young man. The age that Jesus Christ died. The age that Scott Fitzgerald started to go downhill. That age may be a crossroads in life. That was the age when I began my... Continue Reading →
trying
January 2017 has been the most productive month of my life. When I started this MFA program, someone warned me, "don't expect to finish your novel in a semester. But maybe over the course of the whole program."I nodded. Of course I didn't expect to complete my whole novel in a semester! I have two... Continue Reading →
golden age
It's finally here. IT! IT! That time everyone has told me will come is here! The time they soothe you with promises of when you're in the throes of raising a baby and a toddler. When you're covered in spit up and sleep deprived and screaming and crying is rattling around in your brain, even... Continue Reading →
favorite books from 2016
2016 started off rough for reading. I just wasn't picking anything that inspired me but was reading it anyway. Then I started school and learned not to do that anymore. Reading for a writer is very important: it is the study of writing and it also inspires writing. If reading does neither of those, it's... Continue Reading →
2016 in review
Brandon can sit through the movies. But we've learned better than to take Holden. I register for a marathon. I begin training. We go sledding for the first time. During winters around here, we read a lot of books. Holden turns two. Brandon turns four.Kylie and Khloe have moved back here from Hawaii. I run a half marathon,... Continue Reading →
not so lone dreamer
To be in this place full of writers, this literary community, is what I have craved since graduating college. Eleven years it took to weave my way through a labyrinth of what wasn't me to return to where I started: writing and sharing with other literary people, other people whose lives revolve around something other than... Continue Reading →
buoyancy
I am good at piling on, but not at unpacking. I give myself things to do: chores, school, work, parenting. It accumulates on top of me, the pack mule who is never unpacked.But last week I read the word, "buoyancy" and I thought, that's what I'm missing. I am always treading water, never lying on... Continue Reading →
pain and cookies
When I dropped Brandon off at preschool, he clung to my leg, tears in his eyes like it was his first day again. He loves preschool and always says, "bye mom!" with something like enthusiasm. But today was different."Sit here, next to Ryan," I said. But then a redheaded boy sat next to Brandon's friend... Continue Reading →
holly pelesky 