Tag: kindness

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kindness matters

One of the best things in the whole world, for me anyway, is giving to those who have nothing, no way to repay a kindness. Sometimes this takes the form of buying breakfast for an unhoused person, sometimes it’s five bucks to get someone home on the train.

When I’m feeling down, I seek out someone who needs something I can provide. But it is important to me that I don’t just hand them a cup of coffee. That isn’t where the kindness lives. It lives in listening to their stories, in letting them talk if they want to. It’s in sitting on a curb sipping coffee with them.

Yesterday, my mother and I spent the day putting together care packages for the homeless. We got a hygiene kit together (toothbrush/paste, wet wipes, hand sanitizer, lip balm, etc), added a hat and gloves, a pair of socks, then we packed some food in. A mandarin orange, peanut butter sandwich, some crackers, cookies, trail mix, and some holiday cheer in the form of candy.

We ended up with twenty care packages that are currently in my car. On my way home, I stopped twice to hand out bags to two gentlemen I see fairly regularly. One of them wanted to give me something in return. He was sweet, and told me a long, rambling story of how he got the piece he was giving to me, and how special it is. Doesn’t matter that it’s just a bit of plastic that broke off of some decorative thing. It was about him feeling like he had something to give me in return.

Today, Mom and I are taking the packages to an encampment of homeless folks, along with some blankets. It is starting to be cold here, especially at night, and while we don’t get snow and all that, the cold can still be deadly.

Kindness matters. Spread some around.

Photo by Adam Nemeroff on Unsplash

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Hêalic: The Blood Witch Saga Book 3

Yesterday I turned in my final edits on book three of the Blood Witch Saga. I think it’s my favorite of the series. What’s not to love about a gender-bent Victorian society, a Jack-The-Ripper style serial killer and magic?

Thána, Xen, and Daria find themselves in a world where witches are killed by hanging, and both a virulent plague and a serial killer eerily similar to Jack The Ripper are hunting the populace.

They have no idea how to get back to Meerat, let alone Spítia. Complicating matters, Thána is suffering withdrawal from the xýpna powder and her powers are depleted, leaving her vulnerable. And if that’s not enough, Katyk has come through the first portal with them, but not the second, and Thána feels like she’s being hunted.

After the serial killer takes an interest in Thána, every move she makes might be her last. Can she find their way back to the portal before she ends up dead?

Hêalic: The Blood Witch Saga Book 3

I’ll be introducing you to some of the new characters this coming week, though mostly background players. Cover reveal will happen on my Instagram and Facebook on Wednesday.

I was playing with https://creator.nightcafe.studio/ this morning and the image above is the result. Thána, Daria and Xen…or some version thereof.

I also got some writing done on book 4 this weekend. It’s a bit choppy, but it’s coming along.

We’re back to Monday and the day job awaits. Tis the season of kindness, Readers. By kind to yourself too.

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hope rises with the sun

The world is a hot mess right now, and I have to admit that it is eating up a lot of my brain power and making me want to just hide in my safe little sanctuary until it sorts itself out. We’re still dealing with a pandemic, we’ve got monkeypox on the rise, new cases of polio (which we thought we had irradiated), some new virus in China…we’ve got war in Ukraine, a former president who appears to have committed even more crime than we thought, his supporters taking guns to the FBI and calling for civil war (let alone just plain murder of agents). We’ve got Israel pounding Palestine, civilians being killed the world over, continuing gun violence here in the US and a congress who seems to have forgotten they’re supposed to work for us.

It’s a lot, and some days it’s more than I can wrap my head around. Other days, I’m wallowing in it, which isn’t good for anyone.

Still, there is beauty and kindness in this world, we just have to dig a little deeper to find it these days. The sun still rises, the rain still falls (though most of the world really needs more of that), the flowers still open up and people still do good things for one another.

And when you can’t find that kindness around you, the best way to look for it is to be that kindness. It doesn’t have to be a big gesture or cost you a fortune. It can just be the little things, the smile for a stranger, a kind word to someone you pass in the street or stand behind in line. It can be the cup of coffee you bring a coworker who is having a hard time, or the lunch tab you pick up for a friend.

Hope rises above despair, but it needs our help. Find a moment today to hope for something. Bring kindness into the world.

Happy Sunday, Readers. May it bring you peace.

Photo by todd kent on Unsplash

By the way, have you picked up your copy of Thanátou yet?

Thanátou
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let me tell you a story

There is something to be said about the ways a round of interviews during job hunting can help narrow your focus on what it is you do and why.

Sure, I get tired of talking about myself all the time (I’m not really all that interesting to be honest), but as you answer the same or similar questions, it really does help you hone an understanding of what you love about what you do.

The last few rounds of job-hunting helped bring a few things into focus.

  1. I love helping people to help themselves. That really is a lot of what technical writing is all about. My job is to make the instructions so clear that a user can do their job without needing to access customer support.
  2. I am a storyteller at heart. You may not think that’s something that pertains to technical writing, but you’d be wrong. The story I’m telling is about the user’s journey in using the product, or it’s about the product itself and how users can make the most of it.
  3. I am at my best as a writer, both technical and other, when I can get out of my own way and just let the words flow. It can be a challenge for me to turn off my internal editor, but my writing is always stronger when I do. Editing can come after the words are down.

This being my first week in this new job I’m on the other side of the story, the part where I am learning the story of the company and the product and what my place will be. It is a necessary step toward being able to then help write that story.

And that step needs more coffee! I’m off to start my day, Readers! I hope yours is awesome and filled with kindness.

Photo by Nong Vang on Unsplash

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be the good

As I’ve been job hunting these last few weeks, I’ve made a point to look into companies that are doing the kind of work that benefits humanity. Being a tech writer with the ability to explore many different kinds of tech is a wonderful way to learn about new and innovative ways that people are trying to help, from climate change to using drones to deliver life saving medical supplies in times of need.

Sure, it is more likely I’ll end up at a more mundane sort of company that deals with data of some kind or advertising/product tech or the like because that is where my experience is, but exploring other options has been interesting.

Particularly in the world we occupy today. The news is filled with sad and angry situations, fueling the feelings of hopelessness and loneliness in many people. It can be hard to see that there are people out there working for the greater good of all.

I’ve always believed that to change the world we must change ourselves and how we interact with the world, and I still do, however sometimes we need something bigger than what we can do on our own. We need innovations that help us become better, not on an individual level, but as a society.

There is a lot of scary stuff happening in the world, but don’t let it bog you down in despair. Find the good and support it if you can. Be the good if you can’t find it.

The picture is from my recent trip to Austin. It reminds me of the beauty that exists, even in the heart of a bustling city, in a place bogged down by disease. Find that beauty today and hold on to it.

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what matters is now

For a long time, in my teens and early twenties, I was sure that we would see the end of the world in my lifetime. Part of me clung to science fiction in what I only now recognize as hope that I was wrong, or some unacknowledged notion that even if Armageddon was to happen, some part of who we are, the best parts of who we are if I’m using Star Trek as an example, would live on outside the scenario I was taught.

Even after I learned my way out of that fear, and out of that particular flavor of Christianity, I maintained a love of sci-fi and in particular dystopian stories. The little spark of hope, that even if the worst of humanity prevailed, something good could remain was a driving factor in what and how I changed myself.

I’ve traveled a lot of roads spiritually and academically since then, and what I believe has changed and grown as I did. In some ways, the more I learn, the more I question, and I am less sure of a good deal many things than I have ever been.

One thing I do know, however, is that what I believe about where we come from, what comes after this life, whether or not there is a god or gods, does not define how I live my life. I no longer believe that my eternity rests on a belief, or on a specific god or on a specific ritual. Or, if it does, I am not interested in it at least.

What matters to me is this life. How I live now. How I treat others now. How I grow and learn now. Love and kindness are what motivate me, both for how I approach the world and how I approach myself.

We’re here, on this earth, now. This is what matters.

Those are my thinky thoughts for this Sunday morning, Readers! I hope you are well and that your life is filled with love and kindness. I’m off into the world of The Blood Witch with my Death Wish coffee in hand.

Photo by Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash

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the morning ritual

Human beings tend toward ritual, even if it is in an informal manner. Take for instance the morning coffee. There is a precise manner and order for arriving at a delicious, hot cup of coffee. For me, that ritual begins after my morning ablution.

And, because I’m owned by two cats, it includes their morning treat time too. For me, this looks something like:

  1. Put down a handful of treats for the kitties
  2. Fill the kettle
  3. Put the kettle on the burner and turn it on high.
  4. Rinse out the French Press and fill it with hot water
  5. **go do other morning ritual stuff while the water heats**
  6. Measure out beans into the grinder
  7. Grind
  8. Dump water out of French Press and add grounds
  9. Fill with water
  10. Let it brew
  11. Press
  12. Pour
  13. Savor

Most of this I do most mornings without really thinking about it. That’s part of the purpose of ritual, I suppose, to make things easy to do through repetition. But there is something very rewarding that comes when you narrow your focus, when you keep your mind and attention on what your hands are doing, rather than letting your mind wander off into the day ahead.

We all have little rituals, whether it’s making the coffee or the order in which we get dressed/undressed, or the way we get ready to leave the house or go to bed. Today, pick one of your daily rituals and be present in the motions, in the steps you take. Keep your thoughts centered on what you are doing and why. Make it purposeful and deliberate.

Either way, I hope your coffee is tasty, your day filled with kindness and your ritual fulfilling. I love you, Readers!

Photo by Rachel Brenner on Unsplash

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the day of mothers

Mother’s Day is ostensibly meant as a day that we recognize and honor our maternal figures, the people who gave birth to us, the people who wiped our butts and fed us, the people who cared for us when we were ill or injured. But motherhood is about a lot more than that, and it is something we often just take for granted.

I have never given birth to a child, but I have mothered many, from my brother’s kids to my friend’s kids, to my friends themselves. In many ways I have a mothering nature, despite not having kids of my own. I’m the organizer in my friend groups. I’m the one to organize the road trips, to make the hotel reservations. I’m the one who will drop everything to help a friend.

Sure, I do it because it helps me manage my anxiety, but also because I enjoy it. I love to give my friends the gift of my time and effort. I love knowing that some kind gesture I made to a child is remembered long after that child has grown, or that my planning has allowed my friends to relax and not stress during a trip or vacation.

There are many people in this world who have problematic relationships with the person who gave birth to them and days like today can be hard for them. There are many people who long to be mothers but can not conceive or carry to term and today can be hard for them as well.

For all of them, I wish peace and kindness on this day.

Please be mindful when spreading Mother’s Day greetings today. Not all female presenting women are mothers or desire to be mothers. Others are hurting as another Mother’s Day passes without children.

Be Kind, Readers. And be loved.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

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poetic license

Because I’m not already in the middle of writing a trilogy, editing an anthology, working a day job and attempting to keep my head above water, I seem to have decided to work on a poetry collection.

I’ve always loved poetry, and though I know that poetry doesn’t really sell. Selling isn’t the point, I think, when it comes to poetry.

Poetry is expression. It is capturing a moment in time. It is reaching into the air and grasping words to pull back and put on paper.

The best poetry pulls the reader into it, fills them with the emotion, touches them.

You can find some of my poetry on my poetry blog.

I hope you are all well, Readers, and that they day gifts you kindness.

Photo by Trust “Tru” Katsande on Unsplash

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where hope grows

I grew up in Upstate New York, where the very first signs that spring was on the horizon were the daffodils that poked intrepid little heads up through the snows that wouldn’t yet melt for a few weeks (or more). For the longest time, daffodils were my favorite flowers because of that, and they still hold a special place in my heart.

When you’re still in the depths of the cold hard embrace of an Upstate New York winter, after the fun of snow has become the drudgery of slush that has frozen over and cold toes that don’t seem to ever get warm, that first little hope of spring is a most welcome thing

It seems we are facing much the same feeling with this pandemic right now. We are all so done with sitting at our windows, looking out on a world that is filled with hidden dangers, and we just want to be able to go to the movies, and out for coffee with friends.

Vaccines offer us that first hint of hope that our year-long winter of disease is coming to a close, but just like those first daffodils herald a spring that may still be a long ways off, so too does the promise of immunity come with a caveat. Many a blizzard has buried those first daffodils, reprimanding them for sticking their heads up too soon. Returning to our normal lives too soon will bring with it another blizzard of Covid-19 to swat us down and set back our recovery.

Hope grows where vaccines are planted, but immunity takes some time to blossom. So, as we turn the wheel of the year toward Imbolc, let us hope, but remain vigilant.

Happy February, Readers! May it be filled with love and kindness.

Photo by Charles Tyler on Unsplash