Birthday: 32

Happy Birthday to me!

Thirty-one was a great year. My most productive writing year since Spirit Foul! After setting aside another book attempt, I relented to the convenience and enthusiasm I felt for short stories. Allowing myself to let go of the desire to have another book finished allowed me to do some writing I’m really proud of. Maybe my best yet. I’m so happy, in fact, with the dozen or so short stories I’ve completed this past year that I am trying to sell them, which means they can’t be shared to this site or my email group. Some are fantasy while others are just fiction; scenes about real people going through life. I’m really excited to share when I finally get accepted into one of the literary journals or anthologies I continue submitting to. I hope you’ll hear more from me this year about how to read some of the stories I’m pumped about.  

Make sure you’re on my email list to get any stories I can’t post publicly! Such as the goofy Lamb’s Warning, a flash fiction I’ll share when it’s released later this month. I’m thrilled the story will be included in Broken Spines, a collection of work by Crackskulls customers, the greatest café on the planet.

Fatherhood has grown from something new in my life to true purpose. Sometime in the last two years I’ve realized the greatest gifts might just be a healthy family and a long life. Certainly a shift from ten years ago, to say the least. Somehow I’ve begun to envy the gracefully aging elder that gushes about their family. My friends all know I have little else to talk about these days, and I think I’m probably no more fun to be around.

I’ve read a ton this year! I’m always happier tearing through books than the god-awful slate of streaming Hollywood is barfing out. I am one of those who fell victim to the Dungeon Crawler Carl fad, reading all seven books in a month. I think I’m just the target audience, but they captured me like books haven’t in a while. The kind of reading that feels like candy, where you’re reading so quickly you’re not sure you’re absorbing anything.

Still, the dread slithers in. I distract myself from the world outside my door with my little stories, my family, and the sports I can no longer stomach paying to watch. I won’t spend much of your precious time on my (many) opinions, but I’ll tell you I’ve never been more upset about “politics,” (a word thrown around by those who want to ignore everything). A lot of people don’t get that luxury. It’s never been something that actually angered me until this year.

It seems to me both left and right are totally thrilled with outright corruption, the expansion of executive power, and removal of political enemies when it benefits them. Maybe we shouldn’t allow every part of our lives to answer to money. Maybe our elected officials shouldn’t be profiting from legislation. Perhaps the ultra-rich don’t have our best in mind. Feels like they’re willing to break a few people on the way to peak profit on bread and circus. Land of the Free+, a subscription service you can’t opt out of that continuously gets more expensive, and shittier!

That’s it! I’m sure you have plenty of places on the internet to look for validation or enragement. My phone knows exactly which buttons will keep me staring.

I am so excited for Nellie to become an older sister. She’s going to be really good at it, I think. It’s exciting to prepare to have a newborn around again. I think I’m bringing much more perspective this time around. The humbling won’t hurt so much (I hope), and those late nights and frustrating naps will be easier to tolerate knowing that the peaceful times will return again. During those late nights I’ll tell myself that soon enough I’ll be able to drink a whole cup of coffee on the couch while the kids play.

Life is better with kids around. The internet can convince you that there’s no hope in the world. A little girl asking to hold your hand while you climb the “mountain” of your driveway sure has a way of proving the world wrong.

A lot of second-person in this one. I don’t usually like writing “you” phrases, but I’m not in the mood to change them now.

Happy Zack’s Birthday to those who celebrate! And to the haters: I’m only getting better.

Thanks for reading

Love, Zack