Save a Life. Write a Book.

I’m a happy person. My father also passed away too soon, my car was repossessed, I was fired from a job some years ago, deployed twice with the military (11 months away from family each time), and I live paycheck to pay check. But I’m happy. I deal with these stressors easily, and continue on with life as if nothing has happened.

I’ve also written 7 books

In these books characters die – sometimes horribly. Yes, I do that on purpose sometimes – characters are put through impossible situations that they somehow work out, face challenges, make mistakes, rise above, fall, and conquer.

There is great therapy in writing about those things

Humans are a destructive force: It should come as no surprise to any of us that we have, and have seen others, snap into aggression in an instant. You are the goddess of sunshine and flowers, and then the store you were trying to reach before they closed had closed 30 minutes early (8-5 actually meant 8-430, apparently). No longer the goddess of sunshine and flowers, you pound on the door, scream that you hate Elko, NV, and you begin to call their phone number so you can leave a nasty gram for them to listen to Monday morning when they open to hear how upset you were about their false advertising about their times.

Humans build up stress: We build upon and we build upon until the straw that broke the camel’s back, and we explode. Ever watch Anger Management? There’s an analogy about a cashier who listens to complaining customers day after day, year after year and does nothing. Until one day they snap and shoot up the whole store.

Humans need an outlet: It’s impossible to go through life and NOT get stressed out, but stress is like a 10 pound weight, sometimes heavier, and once you pick it up, you’ve got to put it down eventually, and sometimes you put it down on someone’s face, or throw it across the room and put a hole in the wall.

What kind of an outlet do humans need? There are many outlets, but consider MY outlet. I’ve written 7 books. And I’m happy, remember? Because when I’m really upset, I create a fictional character fashioned after the person I’m angry with, and then kill them (the character, not the real person). I can write out all the details of how it is done and I can laugh manically while I do it.

But nobody got hurt. And I feel remarkably better

When I’m upset and I sit down to write, I stop being upset because it is impossible to write while concentrating on how upset I am. It is one or the other. So I write, and stop being upset, and I feel better when I'm done.

So save a life. Write a book. And consider this, ever heard of a serial killer author? Me neither.