Grappling with trauma through writing is the hardest, but most rewarding thing any survivor can do. Whether they are processing the horrors of war, an abusive relationship or a devastating diagnosis, writers often employ coping mechanisms in their work to aid in searching for their own truth and inner peace. On February 13, the German people recognized the 75th anniversary of the Dresden firebombing, often obscured in the history books but undoubtedly one of the deadliest attacks of World War … Read More »

About 15 years ago. I visited a bookstore at the mall — a Borders or Books-A-Million —  where I found a copy of Taming the Monkey Mind,  a free Buddhist handbook on meditation. I was in my early twenties and away from college on break. Philosophy was one of my interests back then and I assumed I could benefit from the book’s teachings. An inscription on the book’s back cover requests that “if you are finished with it, please pass … Read More »

When I first joined the Florida Writers Association this year, I spent a few weeks connecting with as many other members as I could on social media. One thing I noticed is how nearly everyone had Facebook pages, but only a handful were on Instagram. With over 1 billion users every month, now’s the time to get started on Instagram. It’s currently the second most downloaded app after YouTube and while it’s true Instagram usage skews younger, 60% of users … Read More »

Let’s get in the Halloween spirit this week by examining horror, the all-encompassing genre of fear. Within horror exists many sub-genres including supernatural, slasher, sci-fi, zombie, humor, survival, and many more, yet for this discussion we’ll focus on psychological horror. Horror has evolved over hundreds of years from eternal damnation and supernatural monsters to the evil hiding inside our own minds. One of the first examples of horror writing was the description of the nine rings of Hell in Dante’s … Read More »

As writers we’re so focused on success (getting published) that we rarely give ourselves permission to simply write trash. The notion of transcribing something truly raw from our subconscious or filling pages with topics that’ll never be in a finished product is cringe-worthy. Take into account the growing constraints on our daily lives — work responsibilities, family obligations, and social commitments — and suddenly any free time we have needs to be spent finishing a polished poem or short story … Read More »

One of the best novels featuring a character in self-denial — a masterpiece and one of my personal favorites — is The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. The story follows an English butler, Mr. Stevens, as he attempts to make sense of his life in a modernizing world, one where it’s become a novelty for homes to still have old-fashioned English butlers. Stevens is clearly an unreliable narrator. Ishiguro writes the book in first person point-of-view across two … Read More »