Pen to Page

  How Cooking has Made me a Better Writer   I just finished a lovely brunch with a few coworkers and as we were stuffing our stomachs with mimosas and benedicts and talking about the latest work gossip, life, and who’s dating who I felt something beautiful in the moment. As I was driving home, back to the coziness of my room/office, I was thinking about what I would write next for my blog. I’ve been working on story beats for my work in progress, but I was also thinking about pieces to keep the blog fresh, and that’s when it hit me. There is so much that food and the dining experience has taught me about myself, human relations, and interestingly, writing.             Food, cooking, and dining has a profoundly emotional and experiential tug on our hearts and the preferences we develop over time are affected by nostalgia and other factors which are primarily experiential. This is probably nothing new to anyone and ther...

Look around you and notice what you see. Depending on where you are, it could be any number of different things. Now imagine that those objects around you had sentience, a voice. Put yourself in their shoes. How would your day be different? What would you see, hear, touch, smell, taste? This is a new series I want to start: short stories from the perspective of ordinary objects. There are stories everywhere and inspiration could be in the things we see and use every day. I'm planning on doing one a week and I thought I'd start this week off with something that I use a lot and take for granted. Deodorant! I use my boy Cool Rush all the time because I work out and play soccer all the time! So, I going to give my boy what he's earned, the first story. Let me know what you think and if you'd like to see more of these in the comments below!   …   The Story of the Deodorant Stick    “Yeah, the internship was great! Got a great recommendation out of it too! I should be set ...

Wow. Where to start? I've been MIA in the jungles of New Zealand trying to escape masks and too much (and yet too little) inspiration while finding out the secrets to life and increasing my flexibility through intensive goat yoga.  ... That might've been too much, yikes, my apologies. Right, so what's actually been going on? I took a break from my infant blog and my twitter to finish the final manuscript of my novella so that I could send it off to an editor, and I am happy to say that I have! I am now onto the next phase of the journey to becoming a published author and I'm stoked to take one step closer.  After I finished my final manuscript, I decided to take some time to refresh and refill my creative well, and so I have been reading The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule and The Secret History by Donna Tartt, watching a lot of Master Chef, bought a cookbook (to become the next Master Chef), cooked some seared scallops and learned how to make a homemade raspberry vinaig...

Okay let’s take a deep breath. In. Out. Good. You might be thinking, ugh, more of this. Another person with an opinion. And I understand that you might be getting tired of this debate, but this shouldn’t be a debate. Police brutality and racism in America right now are wrong. This is a heated topic right now, as it should be, but I want to approach it with grace and truth. I’ve realized that I haven’t cared enough about the injustice happening in my own country. America is burning over what should be an obvious injustice and I don’t want to be silent and passively watch as America struggles with what should be a clear cut issue. So, I need to be clear. Black Lives Matter! All Lives Matter is a good concept, and is ideal. We should believe that all peoples lives matter no matter their ethnic or racial background. However, All Lives Matter can’t be true until Black Lives Matter. African Americans risk their lives fighting for their lives to get people to care. Unfortunately, it has ta...

There is something beautiful about a story that is well told. There are certain movies, songs, books, anime, etc. that have made us cry, laugh, sad, inspired, and awestruck. Something about stories stikes us on a deep emotional level and sticks with us forever. The great thing is that everyone has a story, fiction, nonfiction, memoir, etc., but few have attempted the struggle of putting pen to page and bring their story to life. Not everyone will be published authors or have a Netflix original, and many people don’t want to be, but I think that everyone should still write a story. Here is one reason why. Preface: We’ve all got a Story to Tell There is one main reason why I think everyone should write a story, but before I begin, I need to state a fact. Everyone’s got a story to tell, so there is never an excuse based on lack of inspiration or lack of content. Most people don’t know how or why they should write a story and so they never do. But, that is part of my goal with thi...

This is what I really care about and what I want people to get hooked on, my writing! So, without further ado, here is the first scene of my novella, Where Did The Birds go? . Please keep in mind that I'm still editing it, so it's not finalized. However, I would love to get some feedback. If you have any comments, advice, suggestions, tips, tricks, praise, critiques, etc. please leave a comment! Enjoy! Scene 1:             I woke up this morning thinking of you. All of you, actually.  Yesterday, I had a bitch of a headache. I made myself the last Jimmy Dean breakfast croissant and had it with my whiskey. I forgot to pay the water bill, so I didn’t take a shower. I was on my last pair of clean underwear and smelling something halfway between a skunk and swamp dick. I put on some deodorant and left the house. People would be sacrificed, but I had shit to do.          ...