Bad things can happen — In keeping with tonight being the scariest night of the year, I thought I’d share a true life experience I had as a teenager reading William Peter Blatty’s excellent literary masterpiece: The Exorcist. It was later than I’d read most nights. That’s what happens when you get caught up in…

What will we do? — If you ask the average American where our money gets its value from, you’ll hear all kinds of things. I’ve heard the USD gets its value from our productivity. I’ve heard it comes from the strength and good faith of the American people. From our natural resources. Our culture. It’s…

It’s not who you think. Analyzing the problem through the lens of story — In most heroic narratives, there’s a similar underlying structure that underpins events. A state of good fortune exists which is upset by a threatening figure. Think Darth Vader wanting to rule the Galaxy. The threatening figure creates a problem/s which inspires forces of resistance (in Star Wars, it’s simply called…

If you’ve connected, it doesn’t matter what you write — My friend Natalie said something recently that stuck with me. I want to listen to others. It’s not entirely about needing to agree nor even identify. There truly is a connection and we simply want to learn more about the person as they write and share what means the most…

The things you learn when you can lose everything If I’ve been missed (apologies), it’s because Hurricane Ian took out our fence, our HVAC, my garden, tap water and our WiFi. We were lucky. Our lives are mostly intact, despite hurricane force winds, slamming rain, and forced dopamine withdrawal. The house held, the shutters worked, the sandbags weren’t needed…

If you helicopter over stats you’ll see people viewing your story, but read times can show up as zero. It can’t be just me can it? Here are the stats on one of my stories. At this moment, I have two reads, two comments and Zero reading time. And all…

Another creepy tale from the Caribbean — The first time I saw him I was a little concerned. He walked into the pharmacy where I worked and stood chatting with the customers. I watched him hold a woman’s arm and examine it as if it were a specimen of some sort, palpitating her forearm as she stood…

Or, some good things about an ordinary life — These days there’s so many bad things in the news, it can be depressing. My friend Daniella Montage tagged me in this challenge, so here’s 20 things that still make me smile. It’s good to find things to be grateful for isn’t it? 1.Good food. We spent most of our…

And still link older articles within your text. — Many readers shy away from longer articles. Adding embedded links increases reading time for your articles. But if you use screen shots of your older articles, and link them to the article pages, you can share older pieces without increasing reader read time. The tutorial below shows you how to…