New Phases

In some small way I am moving on. There is this restless feeling that blows in like a spring storm, and you can almost feel it before it comes, even before it looms over the horizon. Change is coming.

Change I make, and one you could too.

Things from the day to day will stay the same, but I am ready for that new phase in life. I am ready. My reviews, my books, my blogs, my writing my everything else will stay the same. My sites and social media shall stay the same. It is all here, and all the same. The series I am working on shall be finished.

In my own time, and when the words which shall be true come to me.

Though, that wind blows. The leaves rustle, and the branches bend in the gusts which portend a new beginning is just about here. The air takes on that tangible feeling, that feeling of something larger shaping the course of your life, that electric potential of something wondrous and great hanging in the air.

And you feel it.

It is there.

Do nothing, and watch it slip away.

Do something, and like a dandelion seed your bristles shall catch the wind and you shall be off on a new adventure, a new direction, and a new and marvelous journey with so many sights to see. High above the lands you shall fly, with an infinite canvas of beauty spilling out beneath your feet as you spin higher and higher.

You shall see things you never imagined you would see.

You shall gain perspectives you never thought possible.

You shall be thrilled at the danger of it all, and by the excitement. Adventure does not come without risks, yet the risk is what makes overcoming these challenges all the more exhilarating.

This shall be a new beginning, here, now.

As the dirt sails away from between your fingers, you note the direction of the wind, and its strength. You feel the heavy nature of the air, and the pent-up energy.

It is almost electric.

You can feel the new burst of life and incredible times coming on. It is almost as if an echo of these times has reached you before the words were spoken, a precursor to the greatness you shall achieve in these coming moments.

It is here, almost now.

The moment.

The time for a change, and a new phase to your life. When you shall actually live. When you shall actually breathe a fresh breath of air again.

It comes, and do not wait to spread your wings and fly.

...but Look at Me Now

It's unlikely any of us is going to put $20 in a slot machine or a lottery ticket and instantly make it.

But to wish for that, or to have it happen, is almost a disservice to how great you really are.

You don't remember much after making it, but before? Your stories of the struggles, waking up day after day and wondering, all the hardships you faced - these are the tales of legends. They will be the stories you tell people, over and over again, about how hard it was and how everything was stacked against you, yet you hung in there.

You kept trying.

You believed.

When everyone was doubting you, when the entire Internet seemed aligned against you, and you could get no breaks at all, these will be the hardships you fondly remember and set the scene for your success story.

The world has to be against you in this moment, for this is your stage in which those who hear your tale will hear, their mouths agape in awe at how bad you had it back then. Revel in this moment. Soak it in. Laugh at how hard life is right now, because this shall be your Mordor, your Death Star, your world against you and all odds saying any mortal person would have failed. You will want the world as completely against you as you can manage, and even then, you shall laugh and say...

"Bring it on."

This is your moment. These are your tough times. You will look back at this day and smile, becuase that sometime in the future, you will be able to say, "I beat it."

You won.

You survived.

And you just did not survive, you thrived. You fought for every spare moment and used those times between to follow your dream. You put in extra work when the rest of us would have lied down and slept, or turned on the television and zoned out. But you didn't. You put in the work. You self-educated yourself. You didn't have the money to buy yourself privilege or advantage, and you had nothing. You had to scratch and claw at every spare moment of time and apply yourself. You studied. You learned. You held down a job. You suffered through the misery of life, every damn day. You put up with the BS and the phone calls, the bad days at work, sickness, and adversity. Family. Tragedy. Sadness. Depression.

At times, the hardest times were just inside your head, and you realized that.

You fought back. You worked your ass off. You not only did well at work, you got home and sat right down to work on your dream. Through all the distractions. Through all the daily this and that. Through being so tired you wondered how you would go on. Through constant and endless distractions. You pushed them aside.

You learned how great being focused felt.

You suffered too, even after you began living your dream. You were ruthlessly criticized. Bullied. Called out for stupid mistakes. Ravaged. Your dreams were called stupid. You were told to quit. To just get the message. To hang it up.

What you did was trash. Garbage. It could never compare to anything even a mediocre person could do. You had your dreams trashed in a heartbeat by callous and thoughtless words.

And if you needed to cry, you did.

But that next day, you picked yourself up. You opened up that book. You created a new project. You sat down to learn from your mistakes. You toughened up. You admitted you weren't perfect. You started something new. You got better the next time. You put your dreams and hopes into this new work that-

-was knocked down just as easy as the first.

You can't make money doing what you love. Who are you to even try? Here's one star, if you even got a review, just out of sympathy. It seems you didn't get the message the first time, so I shall tell you again. Quit while your ahead. Don't waste your time.

Those hurtful words. Those lashes. Those things which rip out your soul.

You need to wear those scars with pride. You need to adorn them with your war-paint because you shall be on that battlefield again one day, wearing those scars, and keeping doing what you love doing because you know some day it shall happen. You will take those words, repeat them to yourself, and smile. For those words are your validation. Those words are your hard times. You will "be there" someday and tell people those same exact words. Those words that someone tried to tear you down with, that you were a talent-less hack, that you knew nothing, that you released sloppy work (and maybe you did), and you just outright sucked.

"But look at me now," shall be the words which follow those.

"But look at me now."

So you need to remember those hurtful words, because you shall show them all some day. You will shine, and they will have just have those same, old, worthless words. Those hurtful words shall be the stones under your feet. You shall use them to stack up on each other to reach that next step. You need them, because that is what makes you strong.

Denying them the victory.

The rest? A lot of hard work. More than you can imagine. Days you won't ever be inspired and wonder if it is all worth it. More work. More feeling stupid. More learning. More putting time in. More things which you create that languish in obscurity. More throwing time and money into a black hole. More feeling hopeless. More applying yourself. More starting something new. More trying again. More just keeping doing what you are doing.

Love helps at this point. If you don't love what you do, it shall be twice as hard.

Reaching out. Helping others. Being a part of something. Helping others helps you, because you understand how the world works just a little more. Exposing yourself to inspiration. Reading. Studying. More hard work. More the next project. Taking time for yourself. Rest. Getting back into it. Doing the things in life that are required of you but not your dream.

And waking up the next day to start it all over again.

Because you want to be there some day.

To have "made it."

And you want your story to be good.

Love vs. Hate

Love.

It's all too precious a resource, and at times it is easy to think the world is running out.

Like air, we need love to live.

Like air, we need to share it with everyone else.

It's so easy to hate. It's so easy to spread. It's so easy to fire off a backhanded insult and walk away, leaving a crater of emotional damage and silent regrets.

Love is hard. Hate is easy.

Love takes bravery.

Hate is for cowards.

Yet, I see people selling hate and fear everyday. And we keep buying it. Insecurity, fear, prejudice, and envy are all worth big money. Just look at commercials blasting messages that we are somehow sick and we need this pill or we will die. News networks that are 24-7 breaking news alerts, endlessly, day after day, making you panic at the bass drum roll and hallowed bell toll because...a celebrity said something stupid in Hollywood.

And then the adrenaline subsides, but it stay with us like the poison of too much sugar in our foods. Until the next commercial comes on that strips away our securities, or the next news alert that rings the death bell and sounds the gallows drum roll because a new taco came out at some fast food restaurant.

The lesson? You can take hate and fear to the bank. It works.

But that adrenaline rush from the hate or the fear they sell us lingers. Like too much sugar in our diet, it stays in our system for a long time. We become addicted to it. It raises our blood pressure point by point as it builds. It drains our energy. It's not natural. Fear and hate are poison to us, and the slow tick of each moment of anger or heartbeat of fear builds up in us as we feel less in control every day.

Am I going to wrap this up with a slogan or a simple answer that makes you feel good? I can't. It would be dishonest to end this by saying, "Love will make everything better!" and let you go back to your normal life with a warm feeling. Because this doesn't end here. Hate doesn't end here.

It ends with us.

It ends with you.

It ends with a struggle not unlike mankind's decision to go to the moon, or to beat cancer, or to end hunger. This is an everyday fight for every day for the rest of your life sort of thing. It's a conscious decision by every one of us to refuse to add another drop of hate into that toxic ocean that pervades our world, with every moment hate offers us to, with every heartbeat fear takes from us - we must stand strong and refuse to let one drop of hate go back into this world.

Never let that drop of hateful blood sail free into that great ocean of misery and tears.

It means holding back. I told you this was hard, but changing our ways for the better of everyone always is. You'll need to show us how brave and strong you are every day by refusing to participate in the shared madness of maniac culture.

Recycle your hate, compost it into love.

Turn away. Turn negative energy into positive energy. Ignore being drawn into a fight. Spread love and understanding. Let others be. Respect opinions. Be constructive.

Understand.

Feel those drops of adrenaline subside. Feel how much better your life becomes by denying anger and fear. Notice how calm you become, no matter what happens in your life. You become slowly immune, and your outlook and health improve.

Accept.

If anything, do this for yourself.

Love.

Fall

How could I leave a Halloween post up when the rustle of leaves bristles by my window, and the crisp snap of the chill air blows outside? It's Fall, a the time nature decides to remind us we all grow old and wither, but as well we also bloom to our brightest colors and vibrancy in our further years.

This is Fall, a time when the leave glow brightly and put on the show of all shows, and the cold air blows in from the north, and majestic clouds billow overhead with the spattering of rains as ice and snow loom in our minds.

This is Fall, a time when we celebrate all that we have to be thankful for in our lives and experiences, and gather with family and friends to be home again.

We look forward to the coming of Winter and the blowing ice and snow. This is the herald of a time of change and growth towards the year's final steps into renewal and rebirth.

Until then, enjoy the moment.

For Fall is a time to open our eyes and take it all in. The festivity, the celebrations, the relaxation from the hectic times of summer where we try to cram in every last drop of enjoyment out of the sun and warmth of that now passed season. It's time to take our lives down a couple gears, slow down, and enjoy the show which nature provides for us without fail, year after year.

This is our time.

This is the time to let go, take part, and enjoy the glorious colors of life. The season is upon us! How could you miss out at the hay rides, the cooking, the trips through the orange, yellow, and red fires of fall foliage? The parties, the life, the love we share as family and friends? This is our time to be together as a people to make this moment one to remember.

We don't want to miss the chance.

Or, it may be okay. We may celebrate this in our own way alone as we sit at our window with a hot mug of spiced cider as we watch the squirrels dart about as they bury food for the long winter ahead. We could sit at our desks and write what we write, talk to our fans, and take on that 'writerly role' we smile when someone tells us they love what we do. Thank you for being a fan, we say, and onto the next connection we go. Life goes on as it gets colder outside, and because we don't need to rush about, we are just fine where we are. Work needs to be done, and the world will go on without our participation in it.

But still, in the rustle of the wind and the leaves outside, the season calls to us.

And then there's a call on the phone, and a knock on the door, and someone we love with rosy cheeks and all bundled up says there is a Fall concert downtown, and they would love us to go with them.

And life wins again.

We bundle up, put on our best coat and scarf, and venture out into the slowly dying world as the season's final show blooms around us with color and the dying throes of life, and we realize there will be another renewal, and other spring, another summer, and yet another Fall for us to enjoy next year.

But right now.

This moment.

This Fall.

This is where we are.

So we decide to put our work aside, venture out of our cave, and enjoy the show while the show goes on. For this is Fall, a time where nature lies down for a rest to come back again next year, and the cold wind kisses us on the cheek as we go downtown to that concert, and we realize one thing.

We are a part of all this after all.

Happy Halloween

On this eerie night where ghouls and goblins creep the night, when the witches and werewolves inside us all roam about the world, let's toast those who write the spooky, the unsettling, and the quite very scary words which keep us glued to our books in the dark of night. Under the covers with a flashlight we read, in darkened study by the glow of the fire, or even in a lonely reading chair next to a single, solitary lamp in darkened room.

Poe and Lovecraft, King and Barker, all terrifying scribes who's words make us creep page after page, wondering if that creak or pop in the house isn't something terrifying conjured from our very darkest imaginations.

To those writers who give us a chill when we face the night, or a thrill as we turn the page, I honor you with this small tribute.

You make us look at the world a different way, to see the hidden terrors underneath, and create a lasting memory in our minds of what could just possibly be out there. The mysteries of life, and death. There is still a lot we just do not know, and science cannot explain it all, no matter how hard we try. So there is always that something else, the unknown, the what could be.

These writers try to fill in the gaps.

It is an important role, coloring in the places outside the lines, expanding our consciousness, and making us look at ourselves, and our fears, in entirely new ways. There is a salving effect of horror fiction, because we see one twisted mind's interpretation of the worst, we are a little better prepared when life throws the worst at us.

So we face our fears through these works, ones we have, or ones we never realized we had. We enjoy the thrill ride of a masterfully crafted tale, suspenseful chills, frightening terror, and well-written prose told to us by the masters of thrills and chills.

There is an art here I hope is never forgotten, and also a culture of scary stories and chilling tales that harken back to a simpler time. When the world didn't know as much as it did today, when the terrors written about in books mirrored the real-world fears of what science and technology were doing to the world, when robots symbolized the fear of industrial progress, and mad scientists represented our fears of out-of-control science.

Those fears of progress, science, medicine, intolerance, illness, and others - they are still with us today. They may be well hidden behind our cell-phones, computers, instant communication, or 55-inch television lifestyles - but they are still there. We fear becoming ill for no reason, losing our job to a machine, science's power over us, isolation from others, or even popular social forces of alienation or segregation. Those are still out there.

There is even a culture of fear we live with every day. The fear of others, strangers, and the constant barrage of crime, uncertainty, and fear coming over the giant LCD and cable-ready gods we create shrines to in our living rooms. Breaking news, the red lights flash and the dire bell tolls. Waiting for the next one is almost like an addiction to us.

But through our innocent fears we face these real ones.

I hope we never lose those innocent fears, the escapes even through campy and silly ones like Count Dracula, the Mummy, werewolves, or even Frankenstein. It's fun to be afraid of the things we know are not real, and there's a security there in which we toughen and practice ourselves for the hard times. Survival is why we laugh in the face of danger, for we need to conquer our fears to soar in the skies and experience freedom of action, thought, and mind.

Writers who help us face our fears bring us one step closer to being free.

Writer's Inspiration: Escape

I love writing inspirational pieces.

Writing is my way out, and I believe in the power it has over everything - life, love, and even being able to raise your self-worth and give you a reason to be.

Writing is my escape.

I believe in the power of writing to make us heal, make us whole, and bring us together. I believe in free expression, and I believe in the power of words.

After all, every famous speech that changed the world started out as words on a page.

I want everyone to find their inner scribe, that thing that excites them, and the words that need to come out. I don't want anyone to feel trapped in one genre or another because of 'what's hot' or what the market wants. The market wants things which people poured their hearts into, things with meaning and a power all their own.

In this world, you believe in the barriers that hold you. The only thing holding you back is your belief in those walls. Writing is the only way through. Expression helps us fly. Every one of us can contribute, even if it just for ourselves, and every one of us can change the world.

You have to follow your dreams. You need to believe. You need to break the chains of your own mental design. You need to step, just once towards the light, and then take them one at a time until you are free.

You can do it.

No matter how hard it is, the sand that shifts under your feet, the darkness that lies to you that says no one is hearing you, and the overwhelming odds against your success - you need to walk towards the light of freedom. With every step you might make ten back, but the next day you will wake up and take another one in the direction you believe is right for you.

You can't live like you used to, in denial, with the ghosts of self-doubt, with the howling winds of past failures and when the branches of heartache bang on your windows. You need to trudge forward through the snow as it only seems to get deeper, for going on is better than going back.

It's better to face an uncertain future of potential promise than it is a walk back through history of failure.

For failures are why we were meant to forget things.

Some people live with the memories of failure all their life. Day after day, they open the door, let their failures in, wallow in their stories of sadness and regret, and spend the day they will never get back lost in the misery of reminiscence. When the sun goes down, they fear the next day's remembrance and the stories of sorrow that shall be told again. They begin the day with dread, and end it with regret.

Tomorrow, I want you to not let the ghost in.

Instead, walk outside right past it. Walk away. Step into the sun.

Walk through the light of promise and hope and look around, you'll discover a thousand things to see, and thousands more to love. Just life itself waiting there to be seen, to be considered, every moment waiting for someone to take it into a though, and turn it into words. Every moment a word on a page, and so many it may seem overwhelming at first.

But you can pick out the ones that inspire you, for you as a human are a very intelligent and selective creature. It takes a special sense, a special ability that we learn all our lives from the moment we emerge from our mothers to the final seconds we have in this world. You will find the moments you will write about through the things you love. What will be important to you will be instantly recognizable, it shall leap right out at you, and the millions of choices you have will fade away to that one that sings true to you. What makes you shine will be the things that shine to you.

For love is our greatest sense.

You just have to trust love, and let it show you the way.