C.A. Sanders's Blog, page 19

Upsomnia

It’s 4:30 in the morning, the sky is black as a locked closet, and I am awake.

I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m not happy about this.

I woke up around 4 and hoped that I could fall back to sleep, but I can’t. I fought with it, wrestled with it, pleaded, negotiated, bribed…nothing could convince my body to go the hell to sleep. I have Upsomnia.

It’s not exactly insomnia. I can fall asleep at first. It’s more that something wakes me up after a few hours and my mind won’t let me get back in...

My Friend the Rapist

Warning: This post deals with some heavy stuff about rape. It might be hard to read for some of you.

A few months ago, I found out that one of my best friends from my teenage years is a serial rapist. He will never be charged with these crimes. He will never go to jail. How many people he violated, I don’t know, but I know at least a few. But it’s not just his crime, it’s mine. It’s ours.

Some background: It was the mid 90s. I was a very lonely teenager. I had no friends, except for a couple...

You Need A Critique Group

A new entry in my “writing class” column. This was kinda written as a reaction to the drama in my critique group, so it’s a bit weird. Still, you might learn something.

Source: You Need A Critique Group

The Truth About Writing…and Pants

I think the world should know that the best part about writing is that I can do it while lounging on the couch without pants. Pants are prohibitive to the writing process.

I guarantee that 90% of all writers write without wearing pants. This is a scientific study that needs no peer review because I have already decided that I am right.

[image error]

Power costs freedom. Knowledge costs time. Wisdom costs j...

Power costs freedom. Knowledge costs time. Wisdom costs joy. Ramen costs $1.19 at Shoprite.

[image error]

We Are Not Broken

I was talking to myself earlier today (I do that) and I said “I am broken and put back together with glitter glue.

Nice imagery, but the more I think about it, the less I like it. I am not broken. You are not broken. This is why:

[image error]

You Are Not an Object

Objects can be broken. A cup can break, or a chair, or an Xbox. They can all be broken. What do they have in common? They’re objects.

A human being is not an object. They has life and consciousness. They are special. You can hurt one, you can...

Surgery…Also Iron Fist Sadness

It’s been over a week since I posted, so I thought I’d give you an update:

I had surgery on Monday to remove a growth and have it checked out. It wasn’t too bad, but I’m in a fair amount of pain now. I go back in two weeks to get the results and stitches taken out. Unless of course it turns out to be something serious, in which I’ll hear from the doctor right away (I hope).

Let Me Write Iron Fist Next Time!

Powerman (Luke Cage) and Iron Fist was one of my favorite comics growing up. It was on...

Rambles, Rags, and Riches

The title won’t make sense until the second half of the post…except for the rambling part

Snow Is(n’t) Gone

I usually post the song “Snow is Gone,” by Josh Ritter every first day of Spring. Yet the snow isn’t gone. We might even get more this week.

Screw it, I’m posting anyway.

Also, Josh Ritter is the greatest songwriter of this generation.

[image error]

A Dead Leaf in a Snowstorm

[image error]

I am on my couch, looking out my window. The snow comes down, sometimes hard, sometimes soft, like the sky and ground tumbling together in white sheets. Just outside the window stands a mammoth, gray, gnarled oak that wraps the smaller trees in its limbs. One dead leaf clings to a small branch.

The leaf is a corpse, withered and brown, like crumpled cigar skin. It flutters in the bluster and breeze, the storm trying to rip it apart.

It’s going to fall. It has to fall. It must be replaced by...