Though I’m a blogger, I am a writer first, and have been taking writing courses through WRITER UNBOXED, an online platform that describes itself thusly:

Writer Unboxed is dedicated to publishing empowering, positive, and provocative ideas about the craft and business of fiction. Founded in 2006 by Kathleen Bolton and current editorial director Therese Walsh, the site now hosts more than 50 contributors, including bestselling and rising authors and industry professionals.  Writer Unboxed has been named a best site for writers by multiple outlets over the years, and we’re grateful for every mention. Writer’s Digest has notably named WU a best site for writers every year since 2007.  WU is known for its robust comment section, where the conversation further evolves with the input of community members.

Currently, at Writer Unboxed, I am part of a list of writers labeled, ALSO CONTRIBUTING, my goal to become one of the monthly contributors. And for the past two weeks, I’ve been taking online classes through Writer Unboxed, all dedicated to the craft and business of writing. 

SO WHAT ARE MY BASIC GOALS?

My family knows I’m a writer. I’ve written three novels, none of which are published, the first of which I have been rewriting and plan to publish in 2023.

In 2015, with the aid of a former instructor, I published A Mother’s Time Capsule,  collection of 13 stories, some taken from longer works, others being short stories I have written for little and literary magazines. And, of course, every week since forever, I  publish my blog post here. But my future goals are to expand what I write about and to eventually share some of my longer works with you…and now on to a few topics for today. 

From the NEW YORK TIMES…it being even more timely, since the decision today that the shooter who took the lives of seventeen people (high school students just beginning their lives and teachers dedicated to helping them) gets to go on living, though locked up in a prison cell. 

How about we treat every young man who wants a gun like every woman who wants an abortion…mandatory 46 hr waiting period, parental permission, a note from doctor proving he understands what he’s about to do, a video he has to watch about the effects of gun violence, an ultrasound wand up his—-just because. Let’s close down all but one gun shop in every state and make him travel hundreds of miles, take time off work, and stay overnight in a strange town to get a gun. Make him walk through a gauntlet of people holding photos of loved ones who were shot to death, people who call him a murderer and beg him not to buy a gun. It makes more sense to do this with young men and guns than with women and healthcare.

Nev Schulman, is credited with this, but he may not have written the original work. He did post it. 

P.S. Versions of this post have been circulating with Gloria Steinem’s name attached since October 2017, when a gunman opened fire at a Las Vegas music festival, marking the deadliest mass shooting in recent American history. Steinem posted a version of the quote to Facebook in 2015 and disclosed that the piece was not her own.

Wouldn’t it be awesome for folks to be arguing over a quote you might have said or written?