On Tuesday morning, on his way to school, a 16-year old boy jumped in front of a southbound A-train here in NYC at 42nd Street, killing himself. When I saw the article and it stated the time of death, I realized that the train I was on is the one that took his life. I'd gotten off at 59th Street as usual, the stop before 42nd, and had a downright crappy morning. Or so I thought. Obviously it was not a bad morning...I couldn't say that anymore. Perspective is powerful. But now

Bullying is TWO of the top 10 reasons teenagers commit suicide (Cyber Bullying being the #2 while In Person Bullying being #10) and as you can see, social media is a big part of it. That’s why we’re here doing #HoldOntoTheLight, so that this part of social media combats the other. I thank God all the time that the internet, social media, and Smartphone’s weren’t around when I was a teen. I can remember 4 very clear things from my junior high years with concern to bullying and

Sidebar: For those who do not know me, I’m a certified Secondary Education teacher who has taught both middle school and high school so if my post feels slightly bent toward helping that demographic, that’s why. However, I feel adults can take what I learned and apply it to themselves as well. The following are true events of my life. Okay...onward and forward! When Gail asked me to be a part of the Hold Onto the Light project I said yes, enthusiastically, because the goal fo

I know that I always say, "I'm not a short story writer" (and I'm not, it's very hard for me) but I have a publisher who was high on cold meds and took my short anyway! Ok, he wasn't high on cold meds, or I think he wasn't at that time, but he still took my short, The Color of Love, anyway. Interestingly enough, I "sold" it on the premise of how the title relates to the story and then I worked with my FANTASTIC editor (Emily Leverett) and the short went from something I thoug

That's right, it's about to be my 7th year doing NaNoWriMo...and you might ask, WHY DO THIS? Well, it gives me a great SHOVE to move onto another project when I'd like to just maybe watch TV after a grueling 6 months. That time was full of traveling for research, attending conventions (more traveling), working with multiple editors for my two short stories that'll be coming out soon, AND writing another short for to submit for consideration for an anthology I desperately want