Editor’s Choice

My Latest Selections

Stories that made working as an editor a pleasure

Getting you in your feels.

Introducing, not that he needs one, Corey Bennett Boardman.

Corey’s piece, How I Got Through The Darkest Night of Winter, got me in my feels. I re-reading it now and it’s getting me choked up. Again. Yes, this from the chick that doesn’t cry at funerals. Me. Choked up. Hell, I even told him to look over Tree Langdon’s piece on Chicken Soup for the Soul submissions and to send this in!

It’s so good, and it’s so much that I seriously can’t figure out the best way to tackle this. Do I highlight the entire piece and tell you to go read it? Do I add paragraph after paragraph here and dissect it? Do I quote numerous excerpts and then pontificate endlessly?

Nay, I say nay.

Without further delay, get your coffee, get your Puffs, and click here.

Francesco Rizzuto’s Chronicle of a Death Forestalled. Sigh. What I LOVED about his piece… I didn’t see it coming. I usually can tell within five minutes of a movie or TV show who did what to whom and why. The same thing with reading, only it typically happens even faster.

Not this time.

The caregiver helps Uncle Tony change from the hospital gown into clean P.J.s She has to roll him from side to side to do this, blue latex gloves on her hands; very professional, I think. She spoon-feeds him from a plastic yogurt container. I’ve never seen him eat yogurt before. Used to say he hated the stuff. Wouldn’t even carry it in the dairy case. Now she’s spoon-feeding it to him by the carton. He wants to get up and try to walk again. Only this morning he was in Vancouver General on his deathbed.

And no, that isn’t even the plot twist. Find out for yourself here.

My God, my God, my God. WHY is this NOT taught in every school, everywhere? Every place of worship. Any place where those with eyes to see and ears to hear can be exposed to such monumental teachings!

Of course, would we expect anything less than Medium star Niklas Göke. In Your Value Doesn’t Change If Your Circumstances Do, The story of the $100 bill, Niklas does what he does best. Tells a story while educating while entertaining. Magic+magic+magic= this right here.

“It’s as if you are a garbage truck.” My therapist sputtered.

Stopping in the middle of her sentence, realizing she just called me a garbage truck.

She quickly corrected herself, “I should’ve said a recycling truck to be more mindful. We can use recycling truck instead…”

“Let’s stick with garbage truck for accuracy.” — I smiled, picturing myself as an overused New York City truck with a smoker’s cough and dodging the rats.

The opening lines to Maddie McGuire’s, Want More Emotional Clarity? View yourself like a garbage truck. I’ve had therapists in the past that essentially told me I was full of sh*t but never not once did one compare me to a trash truck. Wanna know why and where this convo ended up? Insightful, funny, and helpful are the three words that come to mind. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out.

And last but by no means least. Leave a Message at the Beep. A Story of Love, Life and Loss will stab you in the crosshairs of your heart. If it doesn’t make a doctor’s appointment, stat. Even this hardened old veteran of the world was once again caught with a lump in her throat. I’ll admit-I’ve read this more than once already. Penned by the lovely Tessa Andrews, Leave a Message will leave you breathless.

There is no excerpt or insight that I can give you here that won’t spoil it for you, dear reader, so I’ll do what every talented writer does.

They know when to quit.

Read Leave a Message at the Beep here.