Jim Stitzel
Jack-of-All-Trades, Master of WordsExcerpts from Life
New Day, Familiar Anxiety
I move about my morning routine with a familiarity that has come from months of habit. I get up, make my bed, get dressed, get breakfast. I pop a fresh K-cup into my Keurig and wait as it brews up the cup of coffee that has now become a regular part of my daily...
Postmortem: Three Weeks Without Facebook
It's been just about three weeks now since I decided to take a break of indeterminate length from Facebook. A couple of people have asked me how it's going and admitted they probably should do something similar because they always find themselves going to their phones...
Sleepus Interruptus
I can't remember the last time I had a regular, steady sleep rhythm. At the least it's been months. At most it's been several years. I know that at least one contributing factor is my ongoing battle with anxiety, though it's been a few weeks since the last time I woke...
Fiction
Blob
Expelled. That was the only word Jace could think of as he heaved the large, blackish-brown mass out of his stomach and onto the ground. It smelled like toxic waste and looked even worse. And just seconds before, that thing had been inside of him. He suppressed a...
Boats
The boats on the river. Each is adorned with a unique array of finery, showing off the arts and skills of the designers that decorated it. One boat is a forest scene, complete with lifelike woodland animals. Another is a field, with crops growing in rows. Still...
Spirits in the Fields
Beware the cornfields. Sinister spirits flock there at night, barely luminous among the stalks and leaves. They have faces of women, eyes bleeding pungent tears, teeth like knives. Their bodies are phantoms, tapering off until there is nothing there. They look out at...