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Is There Free Will?

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  1. The Question Is there free will. Not as a philosophical abstraction, but as a lived tension: Am I choosing, or am I just reacting to forces I don’t understand? 2. The Human Angle You stand at the crossroads of a decision — one that feels small but isn’t. Do I speak the truth, or keep the peace? Do I stay, or go? Do I forgive, or protect myself? And in that moment, you feel the weight of everything behind you: your upbringing, your culture, your trauma, your biology, your habits, your fears. You wonder: Am I free to choose, or am I just the sum of my conditioning? 3. The Inquiry The question of free will has been wrestled with for centuries: Determinists say everything is caused — by physics, genetics, environment. Choice is an illusion. Libertarians (in the philosophical sense) argue that we have genuine agency, even if it’s mysterious. Compatibilists try to reconcile the two: maybe freedom is choosing within constraints. Mystics suggest that the self wh...
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Become the Source of Your Own Life: Understanding What Reality Is—and Isn’t

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  We often think of reality as something fixed. Something external. Something that happens to us. But reality is not a monolith. It’s a mosaic—shaped by perception, filtered through belief, and colored by memory. What we call “reality” is often just a consensus of assumptions we’ve never examined. To become the source of your own life, you must begin here: Reality is not the same as truth. And it is not the same as possibility. 1. Reality is a story told by your nervous system Your brain is a pattern‑recognition machine. It scans for danger, repeats what’s familiar, and fills in blanks with past experience. That means your “reality” is often a loop—reinforcing what you already expect. If you expect rejection, you’ll notice every cold glance. If you expect failure, you’ll interpret every delay as doom. This isn’t delusion. It’s biology. And it means you can change your reality by changing what you expect. 2. Reality is not neutral—it’s shaped by meaning Two people can live...
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So, you want to be published? Tip #2: Find an agent

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  When I first asked my mentor, Dr. Earl Stevick, what he wished someone had told him before he published his first book, he didn’t hesitate: “Find an agent.” That advice changed the trajectory of my publishing life. But the point of this column isn’t the agent Earl sent me to—that story belongs to him. The point is that every author, at some stage, needs someone who knows the terrain better than they do. And in the world of publishing, that person is often an agent. Agents are not gatekeepers. They are translators, advocates, strategists, and partners. They help you navigate a system that is complex, relationship‑driven, and often opaque from the outside. If you want to publish traditionally, finding the right agent is one of the most consequential decisions you will make. Where to Look for an Agent You don’t find an agent by wandering the internet or sending cold emails into the void. You find them by going where agents actually look for authors. 1. Literary Marketplaces ...
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