Marcus Lopes's Blog, page 40

Freestyle Love: An Excerpt

HE’D BROKEN THE RULES. Not just any rules. His rules. And the “golden rule” at that. He knew as much when he glimpsed the hairy bronze cyclist’s legs in the dining room archway. Fuck! He reached for his half-empty cup of coffee. This isn’t going to end well.

Malachi winced after gulping the lukewarm liquid, returning the black mug to the table with a loud clank. He sat back in his chair and yawned, his mouth open wide and revealing his uneven teeth. Then he flinched. The tall, lean figure sto...

It’s All A Dream, Sort of …

I’m a daydreamer. Maybe that’s why I love to write and became a writer. It doesn’t matter where I am — in bed, on the train to work, out for a run, anywhere — I can slip into a daydream the way some people can fall asleep at the drop of a hat. I get lost in them, and when I’m forced back to reality, I come away breathless and slightly unhinged.

As a daydreamer, I often have grand visions of how my day should unfold, which often stands in stark contrast to reality. As A.S. Akkalon and Gregory...

The Importance of Balance

Monday morning. The beginning of a new week. And, today, the beginning of the month of May. In a way, it’s an opportunity to reboot, to get myself back on track. Or that’s my hope.

I’ve been at my desk for a couple of hours now. With my Morning Pages complete, I begin by tackling one of the top three priorities I’ve set for the day. I’ve decided to work first on my blog. I’ve sat down several times over the past few weeks — here at my desk, in airport lounges, in a hotel room — to write this...

Warning: “Doing It All” Can Kill

Preface: I’m sharing this blog post, originally posted 13 May 2016 on my old blog site, because it speaks aptly to where I find myself now. Trying to ‘do it all,’ I’ve been feeling overwhelmed and fatigued. This weekend, I let myself rest, and it did my body and mind good.

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Maybe “doing it all” won’t kill, but it can definitely maim the spirit, bring you down.

That’s what happened to me.

I just didn’t know it until this morning, waking up to grey skies and damp streets, and feeling a bit...

Dig Deep: The ‘Why’ in Why I Write

My name is Marcus Lopés and I’m a writer.

In my first blog post, “The Journey Begins … Again,” I talked about why I write. Let me share that with you again:

I write because each morning when I awake, and at night when I lay my head down to sleep, writing is what becomes me. It quells within me, gnaws at my heart, enlivens my soul. I write because of the stories within me that I long to tell. I write because of the beauty that is this world. I write because of the ugliness that is this world...

The Power of Doubt

It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a month since the release of my novel, The Flowers Need Watering. Now I’m learning about how to market a book, and the different things authors should do to build their platform. (On a side note, Write. Publish. Repeat. by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant is a great read.) I’m easing into it, learning as I go. It’s easy to get worked up and hope that one person will like your book, and then leave a review. The temptation is to constantly check the sal...

Beyond Doubt: My Journey into Self-Publishing

What happens when you commit to making your dreams come true? Providence moves, too. It’s why I’ve come to have a deep respect for W. H. Murray’s advice: “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.”

I was terrified about self-...

The Journey Begins … Again

“Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment. […] This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” – Polonius, Hamlet, Act I, Scene III

As a writer, as an artist, it is an axiom that I take to heart: Know thyself.

And this is where I find myself, one more time getting to know myself. At the beginning.

Maybe not exactly at the beginning but somewhere in between. For...

Listen to YOUR Voice: The ‘End’ of Blogging

Ever since the shooting on 12 June 2016 at Pulse, a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, I’ve had difficulty penning a blog post. I’ve sat down to write one many times, but I didn’t know what to say. Actually, I knew what I wanted to say. I wasn’t sure I had the courage to say it, to admit it to myself. Now I do.
Tel Aviv. Orlando. Paris. Brussels. Baton Rouge. Falcon Heights. Dallas. And now Nice, France. These are but a few cities around the world where lives have been taken so senselessly. We liv...

Why I'm Consciously Unplugging from Social Media

The secret is out.
Actually, it's not a secret. We've all seen the impact the internet, and consequently social media, has had on almost every aspect of our lives. Most people have embraced social media while others have refused to go near it. I was, for the longest time, cynical when it came to social media. Why? Because watching how people around me approached social media and its use, I wanted nothing to do with it. What was it that scared me off? This ... People walking down the street, th...