The Writings of 2022

2022 has been an exciting year for me, full of lots of writing. Here is a collection of my pieces from this year on Medium and Vocal for easy reference. Enjoy!

Relationships

I've written a lot about other people who have influenced my life this year:

• Funny, Talented, and Confident: A piece on my little sister
• Honest, Brave, and Generous: Remembering my amazing grandmother
• Comical, Thoughtful, and Faithful: A piece for my little brother on his birthday
• Smart, Gentle, Accepting: A piece for my "adopted" older brother
• My dear nephew: Welcoming my baby nephew into the world
• Goofy, Honest, Bold: A piece about my pastor
• Fighter, Investor, Encourager: A tribute to my speech teacher
• I adopted a first-year college student: here's how it worked out: A piece on one of my dear college friends

Nerd life

Still a nerd and proud. I've had a lot of fun with these pieces and some of them have even won top story:

• There has to be more than nostalgia: My breakdown of Spiderman: No Way Home and The Matrix Resurrections
• Star Wars Geek and Proud: My piece for Star Wars day
• The Shift Towards Antihero Stories: Weighing the Pros and Cons: My observations on shifts in the stories that are popular in the culture
• Why Superheroes vs. Superheroes Works in Comics and Not in Film: Sometimes the comics offer depth that a movie cannot capture
• Wonder Woman vs. She-Hulk: Character analysis of Wonder Woman and She-Hulk
• Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: a deeper underlying theme: My thoughts on the latest Dr. Strange film (Due to religious content, this story is only available on Medium.)
• Revisiting Brave: My analysis of the movie, Brave after a re-watch
• Forget a Batgirl movie; can we get an Oracle story instead? My thoughts on the character of Batgirl

Writer Life

• 50 Stories Later: I reached the milestone of publishing 50 stories on Vocal and made this piece to summarize those writings.
• That's not the right word: My struggle to find the right words to express my thoughts
• Vocal and Medium: I'm still using both, but I'm liking Medium more: My breakdown of these two writing platforms and their pros and cons (a Medium exclusive. Since I wrote this piece, Medium has introduced a tipping feature and Vocal has shortened its review time)
• Let's talk about Grammarly: Grammarly is one of the most helpful writing tools I have ever used (a Medium exclusive)
• What is the Sequel Culture Doing to Creators? My thoughts on the world of sequels and diluting good stories (a Medium Exclusive)
• Seven things I would tell my former self about freelance writing: What I have learned so far about freelance writing
• The Librarian: My submission to a short story competition

Health

• 5 things to remember when you go to the doctor: My tips for getting the most out of your doctor visit
• Diabetes Basics: What is Insulin? Going over some basic concepts of diabetes
• Diabetes Basics: What is Blood Sugar? More diabetes basics
• 5 Easy Ways to Become Your Nurse's Favorite Patient: How to establish a good dynamic with your nurse

Deeper Musings

• Young Adulthood: Somewhere between learning profound life lessons and crazy: My thoughts on young adult life and my current friend group
• What happens after listening? What should our response be when someone shares with us?
• Normal or Special? My thoughts on the conflict between wanting to fit in and wanting to be better than others
• I'm not a coffee snob: Celebrating and being thankful for the present gifts
• The Best of Times and the Worst of Times: My thoughts on learning not to see our pasts as all good or all bad and looking to find the good amidst the pain
• Understanding Humility: What do the experts do? What does true humility look like?
• Just Use the Wedgwood China: You don't have to save the all the special things for later
• Strawberries in June: My thoughts after helping with the annual strawberry festival
• Finding What We've Lost and Discovering the Healing We Didn't Know We Needed: My thoughts on how sometimes you don't realize how much you were longing for something until you get it
• PSA: It's okay to like fall: My advice to enjoy what you love and not care too much about what others think

Medium Exclusives:

Medium allows certain content that does not fit with Vocal guidelines. You can check out these pieces here:

• The Greatest Story: The reason for everything and the only way to find true meaning in life
• Answering 10 questions: A bit about me: Introducing myself to other writers on the Medium platform
• Four Pieces of Wisdom from my Dad: A piece I wrote for my Dad's birthday and Father's Day
• Letting Go of Our Security Buckets: Learning to let go and recognize that we aren't truly in control
• Reaching out even when it's awkward: How do we respond to those who are hurting?
• Returning to the dance floor: My experience and takeaways after teaching a few dance classes
• 2022 Different: My reflections on 2022

As we go into 2023, I just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported my work. Thank you for your encouragement and the reads. I look forward to seeing what this coming year will bring for my writing career.

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