I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.It was right in front of me. Feel good now. A couple days ago my brothers made the 7-hour drive from Los Angeles up to Napa, California.We’ve been hanging out, going on long walks, ordering pizza, and playing one of our favorite games…The Taskmaster Board Game. The game…
Category: essays
The Wisdom of Waiting
Your message for today. I opened one of my books to a random page, and this is what came out. From “The Land of the Fey” in my post-apocalyptic cowboy adventure novella The Stranger: It was broody and dark in this forest. Muffled birdcalls echoed. Somewhere, they could smell a bog. Gerardo told them they…
A Holiday Lesson from a Starship Chase
“They have missile lock!” Beep! Beep! Alarms blared through the cabin of the starship. We wove through the asteroid field as constellations smeared into streaks of light against the black of space. Behind us, three Ghost Squadron fighters closed in, blasting floating boulders apart as they pursued. Lilith chose that moment to chime in. No…
3am Reminder from a Sleepy Christmas Elf
Last night I woke up around 3am and couldn’t fall back asleep. I was thinking about the future. All the books I want to publish and share around the world…All the millions of people I want to reach with bliss…All the dreams I’m holding for the coming year… The thoughts started spinning, and my mind…
Put Down the Knife: Why Fear Is a Terrible Motivator
Put down the knife. My book Parables is the story of a young thief who becomes a noble assassin in the service of an exiled prince. And from this noble assassin, I learned a lesson that I’ve carried with me ever since: “None of us can do our best when we are afraid of a…
The Gremlin vs. The Rain (A Morning Lesson in Not Fighting Reality)
“Rain stopping in 18 minutes…” That was the forecast from the Weather app. I scowled and made my signature irritated gremlin noise. It was morning, and I wanted to brush my teeth. Since we got back to California, we’ve been staying in a lovely studio on the side of a ravine.The room is cozy, and…
A Bathroom Lesson in Emotional Intelligence
When do you use the toilet? Probably…whenever you need to. Bear with me, because this is an important point. Imagine you’re out in public and your body starts giving you bathroom signals. What do you do? Walking around with a full bladder is uncomfortable.So you probably start looking for a friendly Starbucks where you can…
The Golden Key: How to Stop Feeding Your Problems
“Don’t think about your problem. Think about God, instead.” Feel good now. Emmet Fox was a New Thought teacher from Ireland. In one of his most famous teachings, The Golden Key, Fox describes a simple practice that dissolves any issue in our life. The Key is this: Whenever you think you have a problem… “Don’t…
She Hated My Book (And Why That’s a Good Thing)
She hated my book. Feel good now. On September 20, Ileana Muhlach left this 2-star Amazon review for my book Lucian Lightbringer & the Chalice of Life (please forgive the typos): “It reads like fan fiction writen [written] by a high-schooler. The author does have potential, but needs some work. The use of the dame…
Indiana Jones and Ego Death
“Oh god… I’ve lost him.” That’s what Indiana Jones’s father said when he watched his son drive a Nazi tank off a cliff to kill one of the main villains in “Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade.” Today, I relaxed with my grandmother in her Chicago apartment and watched all three of the original Indiana…