Addition and Subtraction, Death and Birth

It is a Tuesday in July.

In two days my mother will be dead.

As a writer I know to stretch the tension, heighten the stakes, build the pressure one scene at a time; yet as I write today, I follow the urge to break the rules, reveal the ending to the reader, open myself up, and make way for the words to fall as they may.

Years ago I studied business and accounting, racing back and forth to classes while my children were at school, yet business and accounting didn’t add up to the sum of my hea...