If you’re a writer, or even someone who took one creative writing class on a whim back in college, you’ve no doubt heard the question arise at some point: are you a plotter, or a pantser? Even within creative communities we’ve found the need to split ourselves into categories, and the way that writers write…

It’s a simple question with a complex answer. Or, maybe it’s a complex question with a simple answer. Either way, it must be contrary, as worthwhile endeavors tend to be. I’ve been asked this question a couple times before, by a couple different people. And each time it happens, a direct answer slips through my…

In recent years my parents—one retired, one close to it—have been reconnecting with their inner children through the magic of Disney. Specifically, through irritatingly frequent trips to Disneyland. Irritating, of course, unless my brother and I are invited to join. (Then it’s fine.) But before these more recent trips began, my family had not been to…