by Joni M Fisher | Sep 1, 2025 | Writing Life
Early into the school year, my daughter, a high school freshman, lost a classmate to suicide. The boy was well-liked, popular, kind, and active on the football team. The day after his suicide, they announced it at school. My daughter called. She wanted to come home....
by Joni M Fisher | Jul 4, 2025 | Writing Life
I love my country. I believe the United States of America is the best country in the world to live in. Having traveled in 31 countries so far, I have witnessed and experienced life under oppressive and corrupt governments. In the USA, we enjoy freedom of speech,...
by Joni M Fisher | Jun 10, 2025 | Writing Life
I must confess my pen fetish. Imagine my joy to learn that there is a National Ball Point Pen Day! So buckle up, I’m going to teach you something you didn’t know about pens. This holiday was created to celebrate the filing of the patent for the ball point...
by Joni M Fisher | Jun 8, 2025 | Writing Life
My best friend Caryn keeps all my secrets. She’s been a loyal, kind-hearted friend since middle school. We’ve been through many milestones together. She taught me how to shave my legs with a razor. Whenever we talk, we pick up where we left off as if only...
by Joni M Fisher | May 26, 2025 | Writing Life
A writer colleague recently asked me to name the hardest-to-write story I’ve done. This article originally appeared in The Lakeland Ledger, Polk County, Florida, on May 3, 1998. Here it is. As Polk City Hardware’s softball team storms through the season, one...
by Joni M Fisher | May 25, 2025 | Writing Life
Welcome to Embrace Your Geekness Day! This holiday was not my idea, but I embrace it wholeheartedly. Think of all the people who have been labeled geek, wonk, nerd, and such. Among them are industry leaders, creative geniuses, outcasts, and eccentrics. I embrace my...
by Joni M Fisher | May 11, 2025 | Writing Life
I have learned that teenagers live in the age of forgetting. Simple skills–even basic rules of civilized conduct–they mastered at age seven disappear at age 14, like closing doors, saying ‘please’ and ‘thank-you’, putting things back where they found them,...
by Joni M Fisher | May 5, 2025 | Writing Life
I might never go to Disney World again after a trip to Universal Studios in Orlando to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The magic of activating animatronics from the wave of a wand, the perfection of detail, and the absolute visceral experience of the food,...
by Joni M Fisher | May 2, 2025 | Writing Life
When my daughter Jessica joined the Junior Varsity Cheerleader squad in high school, I never suspected how much it would demand of both of us. Sure, the girls cheered at football games and basketball games, but these activities merely fronted for the real...
by Joni M Fisher | Apr 21, 2025 | Writing Life
Have you heard of the 540 Writers Community? The 540 Writers Community—a faith-based 501c3 nonprofit—exists to educate, encourage, and equip writers to create clean, clear, compelling, life-changing content. The 540 Writers Community seeks to help underserved writers...