The third of Todd Henry’s Everyday Acts of Bravery: Step Away From Comfort. I told Todd I’d have this series posted in February. A normal excuse might sound like “life got in the way.” I’m not in control of my life, that line of thinking goes. It’s not my fault. Except it is my fault. […]
I have to admit I had never heard of Vicky Beeching until yesterday. Then I saw a link to this article posted on Twitter, and I felt compelled to click through. And suddenly, all my problems seemed pretty small. Let’s try to put this in perspective. You are in your twenties, hugely famous among a […]
This woman’s bravery will inspire you. If you admire people who stand up for people who aren’t standing up for themselves. If you admire people who are just crazy enough to step in front of drunk people twice their size and tell them to stop. If you admire people who have the fortitude to take […]
Hat tip to Jeff Goins, who posted this on his Twitter feed this afternoon: How to create inspiration: place butt in chair. It was exactly what I needed to hear today. See, I came up with some great ideas this weekend: all about how to grow this blog, how to tie it in with my […]
A Father’s Letter to Young Women (About Getting Naked) | UnTangled. I have a tween daughter. Which means many places on the Internet, where women and girls are presented as nothing more than objects of lust presented for men’s entertainment, terrify me. And it’s not just the Internet. So many places these days, we see […]
New Statesman | Let’s call the Isla Vista killings what they were: misogynist extremism. When I tagged this link for posting a few days ago, I wrote myself a note: I don’t know what to do with this, but it scares me to think about writing about it. That probably means I should do something […]
I haven’t felt very courageous lately. My book didn’t make the quarterfinals, but that wasn’t entirely surprising. A Square Foot of Calfskin was a long shot, just like every other book that entered that contest. If you’re interested, you can find the list of quarter-finalists here. No, failing is part of the game when you […]
I got the news today: A Square Foot of Calfskin has made it to Round 2 of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. It’s no longer one of ten thousand–now it’s one of two thousand, among the four hundred books left in the YA category. The next round of judging ends on the 14th of […]
The second of Todd Henry’s Everyday Acts of Bravery: Be Fiercely Curious. Curiosity is an aspect of courage I haven’t addressed here before, but it’s critical. Especially if we aspire to create art, seek truth, get people talking. It’s the antithesis of dogma: rather than rejecting anything that doesn’t line up with our preconceived notions […]
The first of Todd Henry’s everyday acts of bravery: Define your battles. When we say choose your battles in the context of life or parenting, we mean we can’t win every time, and trying to is a sure way to accomplish nothing. So we choose which battles to spend our energy on, in the hopes […]