Category: Personal

Happy new year! I intend to post short stories to my blog when the mood strikes. This is the first in a series of magical realms, strange creatures, and unsettling situations.

(All photos used in this post are my own.)

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Annie was five years old when she discovered she could make objects disappear into thin air.

One late summer afternoon, Annie sat on the living room floor with her Mama. Her grandmother smiled down at her from the couch.

“Show me what you can do, Annie,” Gramma said.

Annie picked up the penny in front of her. A dark stain covered the face of the copper coin. She had found this one, like the other three she’d vanished, between the couch cushions. Annie placed the penny between her index and middle fingers and flicked her wrist.

The penny disappeared from sight. Continue reading “Just Out of View” →

This July, I celebrated my 32^nd birthday. Although I’ve set my annual goals each January for years, I sometimes find it challenging to focus on the long term.

The last time I remember coming up with as much as a five-year plan was, perhaps oddly, in the middle of a job interview many years ago. I was fresh out of college and in need of work to begin paying back all those student loans. I snagged an interview at a call center for a payroll and benefits company – something I was, as a creative, not so enthused about!

Pro tip: when an employer asks you where you see yourself in five years, the answer they’re usually looking for is something along the lines of “Working for your company” or “Moving up the ladder in your industry.” The answer I gave during this interview was nothing of the sort.

“In five years,” I’d said, thinking big, “I’d like to have my master’s degree in English, and I want to teach college-level writing classes.”

It probably goes without saying that I did not get that job.

Continue reading “40 Things to Do Before I Turn 40” →