T is for Thing

        (My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of short stories, poems, and art.  I’m sharing excerpts, plus some of the background on why we urgently need joyful stories.  Also, be sure to check out my fellow A to Z bloggers at the Master List.)

        Edgar Allan Poe published his famous story of gothic psychological horror “The Tell-Tale Heart” in 1843.  Emily Dickinson composed her beloved poem “Hope is the thing with feathers” around 1861.  What if these two masterpieces met, and, opposites attracting, fell in love?  Perhaps their child would look something like my short story “The Blue Thing.”  It begins…

        True, I have been nervous, very nervous about the world outside, its dull yellow skies and cracked pavements, and the dark overgrowth held relentlessly at bay.  I had not been outside in some ten years, I suppose, and perhaps this was mere nervousness, but I think you will agree that it was simply being prudent.  Outside the domes the world is wild and uncontrolled.  The temperatures are not regulated for our comfort, nor the air filtered for our health.  Insects are there, and pests of all sorts that may carry disease or vex humanity with their wild and unregulated behavior.  There is rumor of monsters.  Besides, to exit the dome requires permission.  So I stay inside.

        I would often, during a brief break from my work, stand by the transparent wall and look out through the scratched and dusty thermoplastic at the cockroaches who made the outside world their own, unchecked.  I would shudder at their twitching movements, and be glad to be inside where if there is nothing to look forward to, at least there is also nothing to fear…

        What happens next?  To see how I managed to mash-up my two inspirations, you’ll just have to read the story!

        This may come a little late in the alphabet, given my theme, but T is also for Toxic Positivity.  As someone who keeps reminding everyone that yes, there is goodness and love all around, I am aware of the danger of slipping into something that might hit people like Toxic Positivity.  Basically, positivity gets toxic when negative stuff is denied or dismissed instead of being acknowledged, processed, and dealt with.  It’s when you’re drowning and I say “but if you just think positive thoughts, everything will be fine,” or you’re falling off a cliff and I tell you to smile and appreciate the view…  I’m hoping that my book lives somewhere in between the extremes of toxic positivity and wallowing in helpless despair.  According to folklorists Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman, “Storytelling is a way to cultivate personal power and resilience, even when things are awful.”  I hope my stories offer a way for readers to glimpse new possibilities, imagine alternative ways of being in the world, and find positivity that is not a false band-aid pasted over a festering wound, but is, rather, a shot of antibiotics to lift up the work of genuine healing.

        Marketing Moral: Post pictures of my book in the wild.  Is my book out on your coffee table, or sitting by your mug of hot chocolate?  Did you bring it to the beach or curl up with it beside the fireplace?  Did you spot it on the shelf at your library?  Snap a picture and post it - and tag me so I see it!

        Proper Moral: It’s better to be safe than sorry - except when the thing that will make you sorry in the end is trying too hard to be safe.  Sometimes you have to be willing to be a little crazy - but just a little! - or to dig deep before you reach treasure.

        Are you a victim of toxic positivity, always trying to pretend that everything is fine even when it isn’t?  Or are you inclined to constant catastrophizing about the worst in everything?  Or do you have any tips for balancing at a healthier place in the middle?

[Picture: Cockroaches, faux block print by AEGNydam from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025 (See NydamPrints.com).]