I started painting again. The impulse seemed to emerge from nowhere or maybe it came from someplace deep within. When I’m painting, I’m able to get into the zone right away and let myself go. For the most part, I find it’s an unrestrained act to make a painting. This…

Hollywood’s writers and actors are giving new energy and a prominent voice to the struggles of workers everywhere. When I heard Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA, make the case for her union members, I was moved. Did you know that 87% of SAG-AFTRA union members don’t qualify for health…

I recently had the chance to ask the editors of a prestigious literary magazine what they were looking for in a short story. Their reply, “We don’t know,” left me wanting. Given that the magazine in question is harder to get into than Harvard University — which accepts just over…

Have you updated your timeline today? Your audience is waiting For another brilliant snapshot Another loose thought Inside the dopamine factory You punch the clock and load the dock Dangling pieces of the infinite puzzle Longing for likes, attention, love You scroll the streams of unconsciousness Dodge highlight reels and…

In his excellent book on the craft of writing, On Writing, Stephen King posits that just five percent of writers are able to support themselves and their families via their writing. Notably, King does not define what he means by “writer.” In the larger context of his book, I believe…

What’s happening in America today is a damn shame. Look left and people are ashamed to be Americans. Look right, and people have no shame. It’s a shame we’re not doing more to rid ourselves of shame. Hell, maybe you shamed someone today? Maybe I’m shaming you now for having…

For the past several years, I have struggled to read books from front to back. I don’t like to admit it or even think about it, but I will admit it and think about it, and now that this pitiful disruption is behind me, I will mark this place in…

Despite appearances to the contrary, American gun makers and sellers are not untouchable, unreachable, or above and beyond the law. — Typically, when legislators fail to act to protect people, the makers of dangerous products and perpetrators of dangerous industry practices are held in check by the threat of civil litigation. But this principle does not apply to the gun industry, because it has obtained unprecedented immunity from this important system…

You don’t need to be a storyteller to tell yourself self-reinforcing stories about your past and present, your career, your friends, and your identity. It’s how we make sense of things. Yet, there’s a danger here. The danger is that we start to dwell inside these various fictions when what…