Weekly childhood journeys along the North Branch Trail inspire a lifelong love of adventure.
Saturdays on the North Branch
My First 5K or, How I Contracted the Running Bug
For a long time, I had this idea that someday, on some undetermined future date, that I would run a marathon. It was the kind of empty promise I would often make to myself.
Overcoming Fear of Rejection
A look into a writer's struggle to emerge from the anonymity of a hobbyist.
What’s Your Purpose?
From a young age, many of us are faced with a seemingly simple yet life-defining question: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Rensselaer Art Walk
Gaining Some Religion
I've recently started to read the Bible, the King James Version to be exact. It's a nice little leather-bound book with gilded edges. I've had it for ages, well since I was last in college well over ten years ago, the exact date of purchase is lost to memory. What I can remember is the …
I’m Not Cut Out To Be A Freelance Writer
I definitely understand the basics of how freelance writing can produce a living outside of traditional work, albeit a very tenuous and perhaps meager one. However, while writing is in the job description and is technically the core tenet of this profession, what you must understand before attempting to undertake this new endeavor is that there are a great number of other skills which must be mastered before achieving any sort of success in this field.
Are You A Daydream Addict?
I've always been an avid daydreamer. I can vividly recall summer afternoons standing idly in the right field of a little league game, mitt and hand on knees, waiting for a fly ball that almost never came. During those long fifteen minute spans spent standing, waiting, doing absolutely nothing, my ten-year-old mind had plenty of time to gaze up at the cloud-filled sky and contemplate the mysteries of the universe. I remember thinking about the strangeness of life, about what life as an adult might be like, about the existence of a higher power.
Done With Deadlines
Time is our enemy. It is a relentless beast that can never be stalled, that never retreats, but will continually march forward at an even pace, dragging us all (the universe included) to an inevitable death. Yikes.
How To (Not) Set Yourself Up For Failure
And so we fade back into the familiar. Give up on that morning workout. Go back to eating carbs. Shelve that new novel idea. Scrap that cover letter. Rejection hurts and so does admitting to ourselves that we aren't as great as we thought we were. And so often, we fail to even fail.
The Places We’ll Never See Again
We can't always spend our lives in one place. Sure, some of us do and there's nothing wrong with that. But for many people, at some point in their lives, they will move on from certain places throughout their lives. Be it from a house, from a job, from a city, from a state or even a country. For some, it is inevitable.
Stretched Thin
On how attempts to do everything at once ultimately leads to absolutely nothing.
How To Be Original | On Writing
It's an age-old problem: How can I be original in a sea of content? How can I possibly create a new, fresh idea when all the good ideas seem to be taken? Or, worse yet: What can I do to prevent my original idea from appearing in some other story before I'm finished writing it?
Nano
Peer pressure claims another victory. After a long, long hiatus, I have made the masochistic decision to return to NaNoWriMo. It's honestly been at least ten years since I've last participated, maybe longer. And no, I've never "won". My track record with long term writing projects is terrible at best. Why I thought a self-motivated …
Bear Xing
My senior year in high school was a time of great awakening for me. More than ever, I was certain that I was destined to become a Great American Author if not The Greatest and sincerely believed it was only a matter of time until my star would rise. Of course, all this certainty also meant …
Demolish The Block 