A Dark and Bloody New Year

The January Wolf supermoon rising over Ohio.

It's hard to believe that this is only the 10th day of January 2026. So much has happened since New Year's Day that if feels like we are months into the new year. We look to New Year's as the signal of renewal and rebirth; unfortunately, this year seems to promise only destruction.

I write because I believe in the power of storytelling. Words are magical, and we can use then to build worlds or destroy lives. When I write fiction, I am searching for finding some truth, even if the story itself is made up. That truth does not require a capital 'T' to be valuable to others, and it never needs to be called out. In fact, it should never be called out. The minute a writer claims 'this is truth' they have lost their audience. I once attended a church where the minister told his congregation, during a sermon that because he had a calling to ministry, he was connected to God more closely than others, and his insights were more valuable. I did not stay at that church much longer after that declaration. As a writer, I hope readers find truth in my work, but I'll never claim my vision is the truth.

As I writer, I respect the power of the words I use. I think about the harm they can create, or the pain they may cause and weigh whether or not that risk of pain is worth the goal of the manuscript. My most recent project--not yet published--The Devil's Interval, opens on a couple arguing in bed on a hot, uncomfortable night, wielding their words like knives. It is written to be devastating, a gut punch to the reader as well as a reminder that even in the most terrible situations (the novel is set during WWII) our lives are dominated by the personal which is our scope of being. The verbal violence is written with care, however, because these people are lovers. They don't hate each other, even if they hate being together in that moment, and I want the reader to see beyond that moment.

All of which is to say the language that assaults us from our own government is terrible. We're fighting narco-terrorist with no goal of regime change to we're running Venezuela and own their oil; a new webpage on the White House website that blames January 6 on the Capital police response and calls the rioters patriots; describing a murdered mom a domestic terrorist. We need a new typeface that lets a spell Truth with an upside-down T.

Living in America today is like being in an alcoholic family. The words we hear have no connection to the things we see. Trust your eyes and your heart.

On a brighter note: this morning, as I walked the dogs out back, a single songbird was singing from the tree line four hundred feet behind the house. Spring is on the way; it cannot be stopped. Light and joy return. We owe it to the world to ensure that they do.

We cannot abide cruelty. Do something nice and unexpected for someone in need.

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