Midlife crises can be annoying, cringe-inducing, and even hurtful (especially when they lead to income disruptions, breakups, and other things that impact folks beyond those having the crisis). At their core, though, these crossroad moments are often the result of…
I recently finished the first draft of a new book I’m working on (the initial entry in a new science-fiction trilogy I’m having an absolute ball writing). It feels good to be able to say that, 102,000 words (or so)…
Potholes are pits in asphalt surfaces (like roads) caused by a weakness in the underlying soil that’s been amplified by the weight and impact of traffic. This results in chunks of the road cracking or steadily eroding away, over time.…
In linguistics, “indexing” means establishing things within the context of a conversation. So if I say “I” while chatting with you over coffee, you know I’m referring to myself. If you were to read the word “I” in a novel,…
Networks like Facebook and Instagram have increasingly oriented their services around their own, internal (mostly economic) goals, which as a result has made the experience of using them sub-par for those of us who aren’t super-keen on the idea of…
Validating another person’s feelings often just means listening when they tell you about something that’s wrong (or worrying them, or stressing them out) and then commiserating if appropriate. In my experience, folks who share such things are seldom looking for…
There’s a concept in the food world, “bliss point,” that refers to the perfect balance of salt, sugar, and fat to make a food optimal (usually in the sense that people can’t stop eating it). The idea here isn’t to…
I’m about a third of the way through writing a new book, and I’m trying to figure out how to get my protagonists from where they are now to where I need them to be (for the plot to move…
I’m near-sighted and I have astigmatism. So I wear contact lenses to help me see things far away, and my eyeballs have “rotational asymmetry,” which in this context means they’re kind of pointy in the front, like a football. There’s…
Many forces influence what we think and how we behave. These factors can be pernicious and potent, but we’re responsible for our actions. We might be turned in a particular direction and told to walk, but we decide whether to…