Nicki Elson's Not-So-Deep Thoughts

Hey, kiddos, it's a quick one from me today because I have other places to send you. As you're all aware (I'm sure), tonight is the big premier of SURVIVOR Season 31 -- YES, this most excellent of social experiments has 30 seasons under its belt and is going stronger than ever. So it's very fitting that I'm here today to tell you about another survivor who's going stronger than ever. Meet  super cool mother and wife  Heather Von St. James .  She was told ten years ago that she only had months to live. Please visit this blog post to read about her amazing story. She was diagnosed with Mesothelioma, survived it, and is now spreading awareness about it on #MesoAwarenessDay, this Saturday, September 26. Please visit this page and scroll down to the social media icons for super easy ways to participate in spreading the awareness on your social networks. Here's a graphic Heather made with some quick educational points on the disease. Visit mesothelioma.com...

For this month's meeting of the Insecure Writers Support Group, I have more of a frustration than an insecurity. We writers have lots to say, right? Thus all the writing. And yet, it seems  that outside of our works, we're expected to zip it when it comes to opinions that might not be socially popular. And heaven forbid we ever have the audacity to publicly call out a jerk for being a jerk. Everyone says to be ourselves on the social networks, but really, all an author is allowed to share publicly without backlash is rainbows and marshmallows.  I'm all for staying positive, but I'm not exactly a rainbowy & marshmallowy type of person. I'm sarcastic and irreverent, and I get mad when people are jerks. I'm extremely lucky to have a small circle of trustworthy writer friends I can vent to privately, and it's not that I even want to vent publicly, but sometimes it might be nice to be able to share my grievances with a wider group.  You see, the t...