The Rise and Fall of Joy

There’s a bipolar aspect to grief that isn’t often talked about in mainstream circles. And while the term “Waves” is often used when describing grief, exhaustively availed in metaphor — (waves of grief crash…, the rising tide of longing…, smashed in the surf of…) — one rarely gets the most prevalent similarity to “waves”; the…

Waiting for the End — A Long, Slow Fall

When the diagnosis first comes it’s a shock. Like an unseen punch to the face that leaves your head feeling waterlogged and spinning, at least there’s hope to reach for. Not unlike a fall while rock climbing, the thin crevices and fissures that seemed too narrow to be viable suddenly seem like solid outposts of…

Timing Is Everything—A Reader Would Know That

Who proudly releases the long awaited conclusion to a bestselling series while the world burns? Literally burning in some places… (raises hand, with sheepish look on face). My timing is shit. I know it. No one is excited about books at the moment—-particularly books that are more than a year overdue for release. It’s okay. Honestly, a…

The Helium In My Head

So it will be 20 days tomorrow. When I woke up on the morning of May 6th, I couldn’t stand, my chest was tight, my head was spinning and nausea rolled over me, wave after wave. The Urgent Care center thought it might be a stroke so I spent the night in the hospital. After…

A Wolfe Excerpt–Tuesday Tease

3:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 17th—Falling Water, West Virginia WOLF sat at the workbench with a soldering gun hovering motionless above the circuit board. He closed his eyes and willed mental resources to Scott’s dream prison, hoping to prevent him from piercing anymore memories of the beach two months earlier. Once his thoughts had calmed,…

My World, Shrinking

I was never the soft one. I had the harsh edges and the strong opinions. A bit on the Asperger’s scale, what’s in front of my face is the most important thing in the world at the moment, and sometimes it’s hard for people like me to think about consequences. It’s haunted me my entire…

The Rogue Tear

I’ve seen the phenomena before without realizing what it was. It never occurred to me that I could dig past the obvious and find a hidden well of emotion–or, perhaps it did and I just avoided doing it. A lone tear sliding down someone’s cheek can be written off as so many things, particularly when…