Hello Everyone, and Happy Saturday!!! For those of you who have been with me for a while, welcome back! And for those of you here for the first time, welcome! I'm so happy you're all here!

I recently read an essay in The Wall Street Journal entitled “It’s Never Too Late to Start a Brilliant Career” by Rich Karlgaard. He describes his early adult life in the 80’s, when he worked as a security guard, and compared himself to Steve Jobs, who at the same age was about to take Apple public. The comparison was stark, and as I read it, I could easily identify with Mr. Karlgaard’s feelings of inadequacy and failure.

But then I read on, and took comfort in the fact that, according to Mr. Karlgaard, we don’t all have one time when we “peak”, that we in fact peak several times over the course of our lifetimes. And, that “precocious achievement is the exception, not the norm.”

I tweeted and posted on FB the article earlier this month because I identified with its content so much. I am so very different than the people who are closest to me. Everyone I know is high achieving, knows what they want, and seems to know how to get it. I often feel lost and far behind those in my peer group because (1), it took me so long to figure out exactly what I truly want to do, and (2), what I truly want to do is very difficult and takes a very, very long time to achieve for most people. That means, even two years in, I’m still just beginning.

Ten plus years ago, I was doing all the things I should have been doing in my professional life. I had a job in banking. I had just bought a car and I was financially independent. Even with all that, I still remember feeling so out of place, like a square peg in a round hole. I was doing the right thing, why did I feel so wrong? Now, ten years on, I know it’s because I wasn’t being true to myself. I was doing what everyone told me to do, what everyone thought I should be doing. In the end, I felt isolated and alone.

To some degree, I still feel that way, but for much different reasons. I’m just now starting to do what many of my peers started doing so long ago – forging my own path in a career that has no safety net. In today’s economic climate, the fact that my success or failure is so uncertain is absolutely terrifying. But it’s also exhilarating. Ten plus years ago I would never have bet on myself or believed that my dream and my career could be one and the same.

I am a late bloomer. And, according to Mr. Karlgaard’s essay, I am in good company. He points out a number of very successful people in all professional fields who did not make their achievements in their early youth. Pulitzer Prize winning author Toni Morrison did not publish her first novel “The Bluest Eye” until she was 39, and didn’t win the Pulitzer for “Beloved” until she was 56. The late and wonderful Alan Rickman (rest in peace) didn’t start acting until he was 42. And international opera singer Andrea Bocelli didn’t begin singing professionally until he was 34.

But this late bloomer phenomenon is not exclusive to entertainers. According to Mr. Karlgaard's article, Diane Greene didn’t co-found the software company VMware until she was 43. Tom Siebel didn’t found Siebel Systems until he was 47, with a second company, C3, more than 15 years later. And a 2008 study from Northwestern University shows “the average age of scientists when they are doing work that eventually leads to a Nobel Prize is 39.”

All of this serves to show me that, despite what the ever-present din of social media tells me, there is nothing wrong with me or my journey. The Comparison Trap is a discussion for another day, but at the end of this day, my truth is clear: I am exactly where I’m supposed to be.

Here's my update for this month:

I am deep in the throes of editing my novel, titled The Things We Keep From Others. I’m hoping by the end of the summer it will be ready for beta reading. If you’re interested in being a beta reader, please let me know.

I have entered The Write Practice’s Summer Short Story Contest. I submitted my story on June 10th so I’ll keep you updated on the progress there.

I'm finishing up beta reading a manuscript for a friend. If you have a manuscript you would like feedback on, please let me know. I love to beta read!!

As always, don’t forget to check out my book reviews. Earlier this month, among others, I reviewed Karin Slaughter’s Criminal, and PJ Skinner’s Fools Gold. Check them out!

Photo for this section courtesy of Aaron Burden via Upsplash.

You know what's coming...the Peer Highlight!

I am constantly in awe of the number of people I’ve met at a single event that inspire, impress and support me. This month's Peer Highlight features one of the most compassionate and kind people I’ve ever met, Jack Ori! He’s another person I met at the Writer’s Digest conference in 2018!

Jack has been a writer his whole life, beginning with childhood stories of villains under the bed (as we all did). His passion stayed with him as he grew to adulthood, though took on a supporting role for a while as he achieved degrees in teaching, psychology and social work. Now that he knows what he wants to be when he grows up, he uses this knowledge, as well as his own personal experiences and observations, to write, in his own words, “contemporary young adult fiction with the goal of helping young adults feel empowered to deal with tough crap in their own lives and live life on their own terms.”

Many writers know the struggle that is the question “what do you do for a living?”, and know that, for whatever reason, writing doesn’t seem to be an acceptable answer. Jack has found a wonderful way to circumvent the issue. “I tell people I'm a writer and that right now I'm freelancing. Lately, I also have come to the realization that the writing I do IS social work, which is a great answer when people are confused as to why I have not found a job related to my degree.”

And Jack is nothing if not a writer on the move. He has won Honorable Mention in a Writer’s Digest Short Story Competition, as well as advancing to the quarter finals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel competition with a novel about a gay teen dealing with all the trappings of teenage life, on top of coming out and navigating his first relationship. In April, 2020, Jack will be releasing his most recent work, Reinventing Hannah, the first chapter of which can be read here. Reinventing Hannah is about a 16-year-old girl struggling to reinvent herself in a positive light after surviving a rape at a party.

But there’s more to Jack than just writing (though, in addition to writing novels, he writes reviews, editorials, and other TV-related content for TV Fanatic, and writes the Days of Our Lives fan fiction Breaking Ties). He is a proud cat-dad and uncle to four amazing children, and is passionate about a variety of social issues, most especially criminal justice reform.

I ask all of the people who are featured here what they’re most proud of in their writing career, or in any aspect of their lives, and I always find their answers so inspiring. Here’s what Jack had to say, “I'm proud of being able to make an impact. Several years ago I wrote a short story about a transgender 10-year-old and my dad understood my experience as a trans person much better once he read it. That was a proud moment. Recently, I wrote an article for TV Fanatic about why my favorite now-cancelled show should be revived by another network and it was shared over 800 times and I got an overwhelming number of responses from other fans who agreed. That sort of thing makes me aware that ALL my writing has the capacity to impact people, whether it's about big social issues or entertainment.”

And when Jack needs inspiration, he turns to the internet for inspiring quotes that he keeps on his Trello board for a boost any time he needs it (which I think is so wonderful and creative!). He also looks to other writers for inspiration as well, saying “I also try to focus on my goals and vision. I read the foreword to Speak recently, about all the people who wrote to Laurie Halse Anderson (the author) to share their own experiences with sexual assault after reading her novel, and that helps me because that's exactly what I want to do with mine.”

To give you a feel for how amazing Jack truly is, and what a wonderful inspiration I find him to be, here’s what he said when I asked him if there was anything else he wanted to add, “I just want to encourage other writers to keep at it. Don't let the world demolish your dreams, and don't forget why you're doing what you're doing. I strongly believe we can all achieve our writing dreams with work and determination.”

To connect with Jack, catch him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as his personal website www.jackaori.com. Also, don’t forget to head over to his newly opened Patreon page, which explains how readers can support his mission to help young people in exchange for early access to published work, and provides a forum for people to leave feedback on his works in progress. And, hot off the presses, just this week Jack published Mama's Illness, a prequel to Reinventing Hannah. You can get the prequel for free by subscribing to Jack's newsletter here, or you can purchase it at your favorite online book retailer.

Know someone you'd like featured in the Peer Highlight? Send me a recommendation by clicking here!

Nothing demonstrates the importance of awareness and education like a 16-year-old saving his mother’s life during a medical emergency. Just ask Enzo Bunce, who just finished his junior year right here in Connecticut at East Haven High School.

While staying in a hotel with his parents for a wrestling match in upstate New York, Enzo's mother went into cardiac arrest. Using the information learned in a two-day seminar delivered by the school district's Head Athletic Trainer Marc Aceto, Enzo and his father were able to correctly perform CPR until the EMT’s arrived on scene. Enzo's mother, who was transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital, is recovering and “doing well.”

And it gets even better. Despite what can only be described as a terrifying medical emergency, Enzo stayed in New York to compete in five wrestling matches with his team, going on to win two of them. Is Enzo a hero? According to him, no. But it’s so very clear that the opposite is true.

Check out he original story, written by Jack Kramer of Patch, right here.

Photo for this section courtesy of Zhen Hu via Upsplash.

If you have a good news story you’d like me to feature, I’d love to hear about it! Click here to send me a story!