But Misery was already written
Most writers write about Stephen King’s On Writing, sort of rite of passage. Hey, it’s a beautiful book on the craft. His struggle to give birth to Carrie is the story of perseverance.
But I don’t read Stephen King, surprised? When you’re living in your own horror story, you don’t want to read more. At least I didn’t. It’s easier not to read at all, and that’s what I did.
We lived in the middle of nowhere. We went to work and then came home and worked some more. When you live in the country, it’s not an easy life…
But why only one clap?
Ok, so it wasn’t like he commented or clapped on one of my articles, but at least he acknowledged my comment! But Ev Williams, this is a more relational platform, help me out man, I’m trying to get a bonus here.
All kidding aside, but who’s really kidding? I clap the full 50 times for the writers I follow and for the kind comments on my articles. I appreciate every one of them.
Writing hasn’t been an easy side hustle for me, I work at it every day. …
Open Letters to
Please, just quit already!
Dear Top Writer
We’ve read your numerous stories: you want to quit, here’s how you’re going to quit, and OH NO! What do you do after you quit? Did you make a mistake… on and on.
Not only have we read your stories, but we’ve also read them in your emails too. We’re saturated with these stories. Even in your other articles, there’s yet another link to how you quit your job. We get it, you quit your job.
Give it up, please.
The best advice we have learned was from Armadeep Parmar, don’t run from something, make sure you’re…
Here’s how it feels to be debt-free
It’s not as great as you think it will be. You’ve been wearing the same three pairs of jeans for five years, and your socks have noticeable wear on them. Your husband tells you to buy something new, but you still don’t have the money. That’s what you think anyway.
You can’t just turn off the broke mindset to the debt-free mind as soon as you click pay in full. It’s the same process when you started on this journey. You have to allow yourself to transition your mind. How you think and feel about money determines your behavior.
Two…
OPEN LETTERS
My experience as an adoptive mother
She fixes all the broken things
When you’re in love, she’s got a ring
To give to you, she hopes you’ll give away
She don’t care who you give it to
Where they’re from, if they pray like you
As long as they are good to you, that’s enough
First thing she taught you was love is love
She’s your mother, you love her
There won’t be another place like her again that you call home
She stands here to help you, there’s nothing she won’t do
As long as she’s alive, you’re not alone, you’ve got each other
That’s…
Open Letters to
From the losers
Dear winners,
Do you ALL think we need to hear about how you got a $500, $100, or even a $50 bonus? After the first one, we tuned the rest out. We’re not reading every one of your stories because it doesn’t inspire us. Frankly, it makes us want to throw in the towel.
We didn’t clap, we didn’t comment, we didn’t participate, at all. We took the day off from your stories. But we say this out of much love, stop writing about your damn bonus!
We might as well get a letter that said, thank you but You…
When do you recognize yourself as a writer first
Last week my husband and I were at the Xfinity store getting new phones. I’ve been thinking about getting an iPad so I can write during my lunch hour. As I’m talking with the clerk, without hesitation I say I’m a writer. Usually, I say I write a little; you know a few stories. But I said I’m a writer, and I need to be able to get on my iPad during lunch.
Where did that come from? When do you identify yourself as a writer? When did this mind shift happen? I didn’t consciously set a goal on May…
You have to decide when enough, is enough
We had every kind of debt imaginable, student loans, car debt, and credit cards out the wazoo. It’s really surreal to even write this, but we actually paid off $75,000 in consumer debt. Impossible, you say, no, it’s really possible.
We are not perfect; after the Great Recession and a divorce, I lost everything with bankruptcy to prove it. I was on a cash basis because I had to be. I eventually remarried and became normal again. You want to have a good credit score, right?
Together we created new debts, while health issues put our income at new lows…
OPEN LETTERS
To her 13-year-old self
Dear Hanna,
You have no idea where you’re going. You’ve just survived WWII, but your life is about to change yet again. I can only imagine what you’ve gone through because you keep it in when you become an adult.
I know it’s out of pain, but oh how I wish you would have, could have shared more. The greatest gift you could have shared with the future is your past.
You don’t know them yet, but please teach your children to speak German. Make it a point for them to learn your mother tongue. There’s no shame in your…
What Ellis Island means to me
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
— Excerpt from “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus (The Statue of Liberty Poem) (2)
An immigrant has to have a sponsor to enter the United States. My mother and father were married in Altbach, Germany, while my father was in the service. My mother waited for almost a year for her visa due to a technicality. They changed the number on the document.
The…
Patricia Rosa
Do What Matters. Writing in Illumination, The Short Form, History of Yesterday and The Newbie Writer. Find me at www.patricialrosa.com
