For most people this is easy. So why do I dread this so much? No matter. It is time to prove to the State of Florida that I exist. I have gathered the pile of documentation required: a birth certificate, a marriage certificate, a passport, and my SC license. In the parking lot the day […]
Girl Versus Society: My Kafkaesque Moment at the DMV Read More »
Although I like where I am, I still think about my old house in SC sometimes, forlorn and waiting, the one I left to come to Florida. After living there for over a decade, I can mentally retrace every part of the house. I remember its airy open spaces and the many windows that spilled
From SC to Florida: Then and Now Read More »
At age 14, I had a wonderful epiphany that changed my life: I decided that trying to get a tan was dumb. Before then, I had always passively accepted the idea that I needed a summer tan. I envied my friends whose legs glowed with golden-brown summer health. But unlike my friends, I hated sunbathing.
Every now and then someone will convince me to go to a movie. I almost always regret it. Instead of staying home and watching bold, clever shows like Game of Thrones that are written by actual writers, I spend two hours of my life viewing the unoriginal concoction of a
“The Internship” Has Cured Me of Seeing Movies For A While Read More »
As a kid I longed to draw things the way they really looked. I was especially fascinated with eyes. But whenever I tried to draw them, penciling in realistic highlights, they never had the natural warmth I wanted to capture. They always had a malicious glare that made them look evil. I could have continued
Getting Past the “Scary Eyes” Deterrent in Writing Read More »
Monsters stagger early onto the theatrical stage of every childhood. They are universal, timeless, and haunting. They also crop up in my fiction a lot. In my new novel, still being edited, a monster appears to Caleb, an eleven year old boy who remembers it from nightmares he had when he was four. When creating
Cuddly, Deadly or Just Sort of Mean: Can a Real Monster Be Purple? Read More »
Part I In SC where I grew up, even a few, barely there snowflakes inspired rapturous joy. They rarely stuck, but sometimes those tiny flakes surprised me, and I would wake to find the ground miraculously coated in white. That, I thought, is the way I feel now. The previous day I had submitted a
Expelled from Reddit Despite an Enthusiastic Reader Response Read More »
Note: This story began with the experience of moving to Ocala, Florida. I had been meaning to do a journal post, which I thought of as the “Here I am, in Ocala” post. However, I couldn’t get excited about it, so I wrote this story instead. I drew details from my move into it, but
Walls Evaporate Sometimes (Short Story) Read More »
During my recent move to Florida, certain people have done something unthinkable; they have ordered me to take a break from writing. “At least for a few weeks,” they said. “Until everything settles down.” No one has ever ordered me to take a break from eating or breathing but writing is dispensable, they say, not
Writing Through Stress and Upheaval Read More »
I am about to move to a place I have never been. My transition will be from Belton, South Carolina to Ocala, Florida. This may mean taking a hiatus on my blog. I am trying my best to write during the upheaval, but if I do post anything in the next few weeks, it will
Anticipating Ocala Read More »
