Somewhere along this long and twisted writing journey someone told me to use Twitter to promote myself. I have 734 followers and they are almost universally fellow writers. At this point Twitter is a support group. It’s a great one at that.

While perusing the Twitterverse I came across a meme that read something along the lines of — Don’t tick me off or I’ll write you into my novel just to kill you off painfully.

The sentence kicked off some thoughts in my mind. Does writing give me a lens through which to watch the world? Do I have license to detach? I have actually found myself in moments, where most people would be on the upset side of the anger scale, sitting back and making up a story about why the jackwagon just cut me off or why the lady at the supermarket decided to use that voice when she popped out of the aisle without looking.

In these instances, and countless beyond, part of me wants to run the person off the road or just ram my cart through the side of hers, but then I look at the person and wonder if they have a story.

Maybe the guy on the road is a doctor trying to get to an emergency or perhaps he is a spy straight out of James Bond or Mission Impossible. He could be in a hurry to pick the kids of from school or be late for work. The same goes for the lady in the grocers, although the spy thing is a little out there, I can tell from her pajama pants that she wouldn’t fit in at the opera. But maybe, just maybe, she’s a fellow author who just had an amazing idea for a new story and is scrambling to get somewhere to free the muse. On the other hand, she may have worked an all-night shift at IHOP and is trying to get the groceries and scramble home before the kids wake up.

Bottom line, writing and the writer’s mind have helped me avoid outright anger many times. Do I go to a zen-like inner space? No. But, I am able to step back and evaluate a situation a step sooner than I would otherwise.

Remember, everyone has a story… even you.

Wrapping things up, I want to send a shout out to Craig for an awesome five star review. Thank you so much. Every review helps me out tremendously. If you’ve read Atom & Go: Genesis and haven’t left a review I would ask if you could do that for me… pretty please.

Also, I’m at around 35,000 words for the sequel. I still don’t have a solid title. The working title is probably something along the lines of Blood Wolf Moon and the Triad of Treasuring Warriors… And a Kid.

Til next time, keep on reading and keep flying the black.