Jim Stitzel
Jack-of-All-Trades, Master of WordsExcerpts from Life
The Season of SADness
It creeps up on me every year, and every year you'd think I'd be prepared for it. But I'm not. I always forget, even though there's always part of my mind that is preparing for it, expecting it. I always dread the winter months, the cold weather, the short days. I...
To Those Left Behind After a Suicide
To Those Left Behind After a Suicide, First, please allow me to offer my sincerest condolences. It’s never easy to lose a loved one, whether it be illness or accident. It’s harder still to lose someone when it is a result of their own personal choice. That choice,...
The Next Stage of Treating My Anxiety
It's been about six weeks now since my latest adjustment in the treatment of my mental health. I started seeing a new psychiatrist, who actually took the time to spent just over an hour with me at our first appointment. That's already a significant improvement over my...
Fiction
Manhunter
It was the sixth day of the heatwave. It was so hot you could see the air rippling and warping as the sun baked off the moisture from the ground and the air. No life could be seen anywhere, except for the buzzards whirling and twirling high up in the sky looking for...
Thief
Shadows. Little threads of nightmare silk play against the wall of the nursery before they coalesce into fine, delicate fingers not unlike a Black Widow's legs. These threads, these fingers are chased by thin arms, equally delicate, equally long. Then the shadows loom...
The Little Witch
The little witch, for she was, indeed, very wee, chased after the chipmunk across the forest floor. “Why did you steal from me?” she asked the chipmunk, once she caught up to it burrowing into its den at the base of a massive oak tree. “I didn’t mean to,” it mumbled,...