Driving and Gun Permits

Driving and Gun Permits: I take gun violence seriously. That said, there are similarities between gun permits and driving permits. Both legalize use of a weapon and instruction on their use is needed, you have to be a certain age to obtain one, and neither is meant...

Guns and mental illness

“I support the right to bare arms, but in the winter you should really wear a coat.” (those are my words).   I own a rifle and I have hunted in the past. I don’t ever plan on shooting anyone with my rifle, but I need to be able to protect myself when...

Sarcasm and Political Correctness

Political correctness is a form of censorship which is being used to suppress freedom of speech. (I didn’t write that last piece, but I believe it’s true.) So, while sarcasm, aka satire,  may not be politically correct in today’s world, to suppress...

To be (funny) or not to be (funny)

Steven M. Sultanoff, a clinical psychologist and professor at Pepperdine University says “The experience of humor and distressing emotions can’t occupy the same psychological space.”  My first novel RUNNING SHOES is not humorous; therefore I guess it’s...

Philosophically speaking

When I was in college, the subject I disliked the most was philosophy.  Maybe it was because I didn’t think I would ever be taken seriously enough to have my words repeated. Author Sylvia Plath says it like this: ‘Let me live, love, and say it well in...

My favorites

Some of my favorite fiction authors include Nick Hornby, Jonathan Tropper, James Bailey and of course, Matthew Norman. These are authors I aspire to be. The challenge of course is I have a tendency to be a bit more dramatic in my writing than I perceive them to be. As...

Therapy

I find writing to be therapeutic (and I have been told by a certain few I need therapy).  Ralph Waldo Emerson said: ‘To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.’   I have...

Aging

As I age, I think a lot about what will be left behind when I leave this place.  There are of course children and grandchildren and generations to come. But as the years pass, memories fade.  So if you want to be remembered by family and friends, and even...