The Year of the Bear

I had wanted to save this post for around this time of year, because I knew I would have a newborn (he's actually almost a month old now) and my schedule would be even more hectic than it was - on top of having one course in a Master's program and looking down the throat of a second (course starts Oct. 1). And I wondered what my schedule by this point would actually look like. See, I like to be the guy that thwarts everyone's excuse. When you say: "I can't, because..." I want to be able to say: "I still do." Not to rub it in your face or make me seem better than you, but because I think we are each far more capable than we give ourselves credit for. Part of this blog is not to only tell the story of my year, but hopefully to inspire you to your best year - this year, and every year after. But to have our best year, sometimes we need to stare straight into the face of our adversity or our circumstances and say: "we still can."

Image by AlectorFencer I checked what today's topic was supposed to be, and let out a loud "hmmm." This one's a doozy, folks. Grab a tea or coffee and settle in. Let me tell you a little story.

Inspired by Olivia Cornwell on Twitter (@livvycornwell), and in honor of my book  By Ways Unseen  coming out on Amazon this Thursday, July 12 - first published story - I thought I would share with you the first story I ever wrote. Ever. It's called "Four Leaf Clover." I've fixed the typos, but that's it. I promise I've gotten better since 1994 (I was 8).

I'll be honest: I went back and forth about self-publishing for a long time. For most of the time, I felt like it was the cheap way out -- that if my book was actually good, it would be traditionally published, with the prestige of an actual House behind it, chock full of editors, marketing types, and an agent telling  me -- and the rest of the world -- that it was good. Oh, and in case you missed it, By Ways Unseen  is coming out on July 12 on Amazon, through CreateSpace and Kindle.

Three of the Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5), those are. Why am I writing about them? Well, I shot my mouth off on Twitter and said: "Oh, I have a blog! You should, you know, read what I wrote a few months ago!" I also said somewhere else that this is my website -- which will bring a lot of the same thing: people showing up expecting stuff. So, I wanted to take a moment, and reiterate what my hope is for this blog: this is a place for writers and people who are alive to find Love, Joy, and Patience. And hopefully all the others, too.

As some of you may have heard, I'm self-publishing my fantasy novel this year - in a couple months, actually (website and all that jazz coming soon). It's been an incredible month, this past April, so let me tell you a bit about it.