Category: Uncategorized

I never read the The Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Osborne, which is odd because based on the description of the series, these books would've been and should've been right up my alley. My students talked up the books as some of their childhood favorites so I jotted the title down in one of my … Continue reading There’s Magic in the Trees →

As of late, I've failed to add anything new to my stories, and I'm a bit disappointed in myself. Do blogs count as writing? Technically I'm hitting a word count, but these words aren't helping me finish off my pizza-delivery-tragic-comedy. Tomorrow's a new day. Scratch this one. Huzzah and ever onward! -Gus

When I was in sixth grade, my cousin Charlie was a freshman in high school and taking a beginning guitar class. Anyone who's ever taken a beginning guitar class knows how they go: students spend a bit of time learning theory and practicing basic skills, and then fill the rest of their time with learning … Continue reading All is by My Side →

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. I thank my mom for taking on the consistently tenuous task of single-parenting, for sacrificing much to ensure that I had more than enough. She instilled a love of stories and reading and fostered an environment for creative and imaginative play--she read to me, bought me … Continue reading Mother! →

Tonight I had a real tough time pushing past apathy and procrastination. Just couldn't seem to get in the mood to write, but I knew that if I didn't write tonight, there's a good chance that I wouldn't write tomorrow. So I pushed through. I'm coming to the end of this story and it's the … Continue reading Giving the Critic in My Head a Voice →

It's been awhile since I've had decent Mexican food. Apart from family and friends, Mexican food is one of the things I miss most about California. I could go into a multitude of restaurants and taquerias in most towns in Northern California and procure a decent burrito. Hell, even the goddamned taco trucks made high … Continue reading Chimichanga →

On Saturday mornings, my eldest daughter attends a swim class. This is her second round, which means she's starting to feel more comfortable in the water. It's cool to watch her improve from week to week, but it is a bit scary as well, what with the whole potential for drowning. I try to remain … Continue reading Swim. Swam. Swum. →

I wanted to go over some poetry with my tenth grade students because it's National Poetry Month and they have to take a standardized test week which features questions about types of poems, figurative language, and analysis. This is not a great reason to talk poetry with students. In fact, it's downright shitty. I even … Continue reading Myth: Frank Stanford →

Garage sale season. Light poles littered with flyers and street signs feature varying levels of directional signs, a totem to DYI commerce and a beacon for murder. Premise for a story I'm working on. Looking to submit to Ravenswood International Publishing for their spring anthology. The theme is super-powers. Stumped at first, but then decided … Continue reading Garage Sales →

It's incredibly frustrating how hard it is to form good habits and how easily they disappear. These bags of ham are leftover from Easter lunch (I should mention that I am the only person in my house that eats ham. In fact, for the most part I'm the only person in my house that consumes meat on … Continue reading Back in the Habit Again (This post has nothing to do with Sister Act 2) →