Dejections

The other day I finally did our taxes. As I went to download my 1099-MISC for royalties from 2025, I got notified I didn’t even receive a 1099-MISC for last year because I didn’t even hit the threshold for it. It was kind of a mental blow. But in a way, it is my fault. […]

Yo-yos

It’s been a weird couple of weeks here in my little swath of the Midwest. We’ve gone from highs in the 60s, 70s, and quite possibly even 80s here this weekend to having a blizzard last weekend and then sub-zero wind chills. It’s been a roller-coaster of a few weeks and hopefully, we will get […]

Glad Tidings once more

There is a giant mess in my front room currently. Several boxes are on the floor, their contents in disarray. My writing desk sits askew on one of the boxes, waiting for me to pull it once more onto my lap. Discarded papers from stamps and sticker sheets probably line the floor in between the […]

Christmas time is here again

It’s the 4th of December. My little swath of the Midwest is dealing with some wintry wonderland weather. We had a snowstorm that dumped more than a half foot of snow on us this past weekend and today the wind chill is below zero degrees Fahrenheit. It looks like Christmas outside. Inside, the tree is […]

Change is inevitable

I often tell people I’m not a fan of changes. Routines work best for me, even as I do plan a bit of flexibility into them as needed. Plans are made in advance and sometimes even have built-in excuses if I have to bail on them. And when changes occur, I’m often left feeling like […]

Family

I just spent a whirlwind three days on the East coast visiting my blood family. As many of you know, I live in this tiny swath of the Midwest that is also called the Des Moines Metro area of Iowa. I don’t have ANY blood family here. The reason I live here is because many […]

I’m still here

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks in my life, so I haven’t been doing much writing on my socials. But I am still here. I am still writing. In fact, I almost have a short story done and am about to release another novella in my Portals Series. I still hike and geocache as […]

Go Beyond

The other half and I have been geocaching for six years now. But it wasn’t until recently that we found a greater community of geocachers. We had a couple of friends that cached (in fact, one of them GOT us into geocaching). But when it came to actually meeting the people who were hiding the […]

Holy Week and Random Thoughts

I’ve been a bit unmotivated to sit at my computer and write this week. Well, I should say I’m unmotivated to write when the weather is nice outside and the sun is shining through the office windows that are still grimy and in desperate need of cleaning. But here I sit regardless, watching two of […]

When it becomes too much

I’m currently working on yet another story in my Portals Series. This one is the story of an elemental magician by the name of Taylor who discovers he needs to come to the aid of one of his best friends in life while trying to figure out where his own place is since he rebels […]