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  • Save (More Than) One Life

    Style note: As always, the author intentionally misspells the pronoun i by writing it in lowercase

    In the 41st week of 2025 AD (early October) i went to Europe. More specifically, i went on a dual humanitarian mission focused on helping the people of Ukraine.

    The first and most important part was being an escort for a great-grandmother to honor her fallen US Marine son who died near the Russo-Ukrainian War frontlines. The second part was to help people with hemophilia, von Willebrand Disease (vWD), and other bleeding disorders.

    How’d I Get Even Get Into Ukraine? And Why?

    The grandmother i was escorting is a coworker of mine, Sochi. Her son, USMC Ian Tortorici, was killed on 27th June, 2023. He was on a short leave and having dinner at RIA Pizza along with some other 80 people when an Iskander SRMB (short-range ballistic missile) hit the parlor, killing 13 people, including award winning author Victoria Amelina and Ian. An Iskander is the spiritual successor to the infamous Scud missile. A weapon of that magnitude targeting civilians is an all too common characteristic of Putin’s literal use of overkill.

    In the coming sad days, Sochi heard from Ian’s Ukrainian fiancé, Nadiya, that there were several memorials for her son in Ukraine. Sochi told me that she would like to visit them one day. That got the cogs in my brain moving. I understand all too well that the Russo-Ukrainian War is the “Freedom Front” being fought on the world’s stage. I wanted to help. And, if i’m completely honest, i wanted some adventure as well. I’m, one, a male and, two, without children. In my eyes, that makes my life expendable, so going to an active warzone was an easier choice for me than for others.

    But how would i get there?

    Well, whenever i travel, i try to do two things. One, check out the local sports’ scene and, two, try and see how things are with the local bleeding disorders community.

    People think i’m ambitious. I guess. More than not, i’m just stubborn. Like, really stubborn. If i want something, i nearly always get it. It’s not because i’m good at everything, that’s for sure, but i get good at several disciplines and i nearly always get the diverse things i want. How? By asking and trying and eventually failing. But then i repeat the process. Do it enough, you’ll get what you want. Even if it is after the 100th time.

    So i sent a mass email to anyone and everyone i could find online in Ukraine that worked in hemophilia. Doctors. Treatment Centers. Bloggers. You name it. I reached out to 23 people. I got 22 denials. Fortunately, i received one response. And that’s all you need. Sergiy Shemet, a board member for the Ukrainian Association for Haemophilia and Haemostasis ‘Factor D’, UAHARD, reached out to me.

    I immediately addressed the elephant in the room. I told Sergiy and Nina (another volunteer with hemophilia) that i understood the skepticism about me reaching out. Russians are the worldwide experts at digital espionage. Every person that reaches out to help those that are fighting for our western freedom are more like than not spies for the enemy, pretending to be someone who they are not. I knew that the burden of proof was on me to show that i was not a bad faith actor. I shared my limited personal social media accounts and shared pictures. We talked and they began to trust me, although with heavy doubt, as they rightly should. The turning point in our relationship was when Sochi got involved. There was no denying that her son had been killed. His fiancé in Ukraine could vouch for him and for herself. Once the hemophilia group i had been talking to started talking to Nadiya, everything started to fall into place. Once the Ukrainians started talking to other Ukrainians, they started to understand that i was legit.

    As for the why, it’s pretty simple. Nearly 100 years ago a madman invaded Eastern Europe with his eyes on ruling the world, with his ultimate goal of destroying America. Today, a madman has begun his invasion of Europe through the east with the same goals. Less than a year ago, all students in Russia started to begin their classes with the phrase, “Death to the West and death to America.” That is the reality to this very day. We all watch movies like Saving Private Ryan and tell ourselves that we would have supported the side of the Allies. Every reason and justification that we had to fight in the European Front of the Second World War is the same reason today to fight in today’s European Front of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Since i have eyes and more than one brain cell, supporting the good guys and wanting the bad guys to lose is an easy choice. For me, at least.

    Save More Than One Life

    This brings me to the amazing work of many partners, but i would like to highlight one in particular.

    But before that, a brief note on our main mission, honoring Ian and other fallen innocents.

    In the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, there is a monument called The Maiden. Outside The Maiden is an organic memorial. Literally thousands upon thousands of flags and photographs of the fallen. We visited Ian’s makeshift memorial there. We also visited his church where he prayed and worshiped since he converted to the Ukrainian Church and there’s a picture of him along with the other hundreds of dead parishioners. Finally, we visited his memorial at the WW2 Museum. Not only did we honor Ian, we also attended the American funeral of Kyzyl Bowden, a 22-year-old American Army infantryman. I can write a book about the sights and experiences of bravery and courage we witnessed. Needless to say, it was an honor to honor and respect those who are still fighting and dying in World War Two. That war may have ended for Americans, but not for others.

    The second reason i was there was to help the bleeding disorders community. We weren’t sure how to help. Visit hospitals? Visit associations? Finally, we settled on meeting with Sergiy and Nina and they introducing me to my fellow blood brothers and sisters. But that wasn’t all. Sochi and i brought along a ton of factor to donate to the people of Ukraine. This was done through the amazing work from the equally amazing women at Save One Life.

    Save One Life provided so much factor that, my carryon was nothing but factor and my toothbrush. Seriously. The factor was then distributed to three different families in three different regions of Ukraine. One such factor delivery was sent to a young man who was recovering from surgery. Had it not been for the generous donation from Save One Life, that young man may not have been here with us today. I have no words.

    To clarify one thing, Save One Life has official partners around the world. Right now, Ukraine is not one of them. It’s not that Save One Life does not want to help (obviously) but it’s more of a paperwork, logistical thing. The folks in Ukraine understood this as well. There would be no (for now) supporting of individual children, no continued visits and factor support in the upcoming future. And that’s fine. In fact, that just proves how amazing Save One Life is.

    Save One Life could have easily said, “Ukraine is not an official partner at this time. So we cannot help.” Totally acceptable and understandable. Instead, Save One Life did help and tremendously so. The pessimist might think, what good is one shipment of factor? The honest person would see the truth. Save One Life literally helped change and better the financial situation of a nation under invasion for at least three months if not more. Think about that. Save One Life’s donation helped ease the massive burden of helping those with life threatening illnesses. Their donation helped defray medical costs across an entire nation’s medical system. Their donation helped Ukrainian medical staff focus more attention to the wounded.

    In short, Save One Life has saved several lives and helped ease the burden of those under attack in Ukraine. They didn’t just help, they helped change the world into a better place. I can only wish to have that type of impact one day. It was tectonic.

    I close by saying thank-you to Save One Life, but that feels terribly inadequate. There just isn’t enough words in the English language to truly explain the Earth shaking good work that Save One Life does for the bleeding disorders community. These little black marks are just a poor man’s attempt to shed a light of greatness that the great women at Save One Life have done and continue to do.

    Thank-you is not enough, but trust me, the people of Europe under siege do appreciate the colossal affect that Save One Life does day in and day out.

  • Today’s Article: A YouTube Comment?

    Style note: As always, the author intentionally misspells the pronoun i by writing it in lowercase

    I need to get back on track with blog posts/articles on this here blog. I also need to start doing newsletter which i’ll probably post here as well. We’ll see.

    But, yeah. Today’s article (forgive the pretentiousness; cannot stand the word blog; sounds like a noise you make while vomiting) is going to be a copy and paste of one comment i made on two different YouTube videos.

    As of late, i have been obsessed with one particular thing in this, the 2,025 Year of Our Lord. And that obsession is anti-intellectualism. Or, how much we celebrate and reward uncouthness.

    I’ll be getting more into that at a later time, but for now, i wanted to share my exact comments that i left on both videos.

    These videos are a must watch and they are rightfully critical of intellectuals and those that call themselves that. My point is, that while that is a problem, the most glaring problem in the United States right now is how being dumb is not only lauded, but awarded.

    Anyway, i will leave you now with the comment i put on both videos. The links to the videos are including at the end of the comment below.

    t.h.

    ❧

    Dear Dr. Ana and Mark,

    Let me preface this comment by emphasizing how spot-on and correct you both are re: intellectuals and your critiques about them. I cannot find a single fault in either of your diverse takes and approaches to the problems re: bad intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals.

    However, this message is the whole cart before the horse idiom. We need to have this conversation later. While intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals need scrutiny, i believe that the number one problem facing our world is the embracement of anti-intellectualism.

    The irony is that, both your videos inadvertently address my concern by putting a splash of water on the fire of anti-intellectualism while at the same time giving the anti-intellectualist movement a gallon of gasoline.

    As i’ve said, my bane is anti-intellectualism. And anti-intellectual plebs get their talking points from false messiahs, intellectuals who get it wrong and pseudo-intellectuals.

    Again, chapeau on on calling out bad actors of intellectualism. However, the thing we should be focusing on, in my opinion, is the anti-intellectual movement that has taken over the west, and is the primary default of American society circa 2025. Right now, society embraces and cheers on the dullard. That’s cray-cray.

    So while you guys do go after the head of the snake of anti-intellectuals— poo emoji intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals—we’re not smart enough to see the nuance that the biggest culprits are the ones feeding these faux-intellectuals; the anti-intellectual masses. I, and most people, i assume, would love to see you guys tackle anti-intellectual, the largest problem in the United States right now (i think).

    Duces ma gooses!

    Tony Hernandez

    Link to Dr. Ana’s video: https://youtu.be/odPnVhT_YAc?si=HzzXLbO6jYx_wp57

    Link to Mark Manson’s video: https://youtu.be/dqs8D3xfxsc?si=kXiuYJ3KDMaA12_P

  • The 100% Official Writer Certificate

    some people can’t get over their Resistance (Google Stephen Pressfield) and commit to writing. Their Critical Voice (Gooogle Kristine Kathryn Rusch and/or Dean Wesley Smith) is so high, they can can’t even get themselves to publish a silly little blog post.

    stop making writing a “big” thing. it ain’t. it’s just words.

    Do you need permission from a “real” writer? Here you go. Hit print and stick this to your wall. I now pronounce writer and blogger. yiu may kiss the bride.

    “But what if it isn’t perfect?”

    “I’ll do it when i’m ready.”

    you breathin’? Yeah? Then you’re ready. Does it need to be perfect? heck to tha no.

    trust me, if an aspiring author can write and piiblish a small blog covered in spelling errors—like failing to capitalize the 1st letter of a sentence—then you too can start blogging.

    start writing.

    But for the love of God, just start already.

  • Day 17 – Quick Pop-In

    Welp, as you can see by my inconsistent posting is because i have not been consistent with my writing. As of this writing i am at 13,595 new words. Kris is at… (Tony checks his email) Egads! 35,994 words. Safe to say i will not be catching up or staying with her which is fine.

    The things that stopped me were and are:

    1. “Celebrating.” While i finished a super-cool story because of this challenge and also had another half-finished story in the wings, i thought, “No prob. Not keeping up with Kris. Why not take a day off?” Big mistake. All momentum went fart sound.
    2. “Project Block.” As you well know, there is no such thing as writer’s block but Project Block. Since i’m writing into the dark these days ala Stephen King (e.g. no outline) i tend to freeze in fear. Just ’cause i’ve published a few books doesn’t mean the O.G. of original fears don’t come up: I Don’t Know What To Write! Of course the answer is easy. Write the next sentence. And the next. Easy to say, hard to do.
    3. “Work/Health.” Not sure if it’s because i took two different vaccines over two weeks or what, but i fell into a depressive funk last week. Work was actually great! I don’t like getting hit with a stick and work has been very nice with my lack of energy and my sensitivity towards being unappreciated. It had nothing to do with that. I was just swamped with work. I was working or napping. That’s it.

    So, this is where i was and am.

    Also, i haven’t been sending my blog updates as emails ’cause these are not regular “marketing” emails but more like exaggerated social media posts. I’ma say screw it and just send these along with an email notice. If it’s too much, i figure you can just unsubscribe.

  • Day 12 (Really 13) – Post-Celebration Regret

    I will be re-starting the challenge tomorrow… kind of. Since this is a blog post, e.g. readable words, they will go to the total New Words of my writing journey but, if i’m honest, even this feels like cheating. I mean, it is taking time away from doing other things like not doing anything. I will share my excuses as to why i didn’t write, some a smidge more valid than the other, but in the end, all excuses all the same.
    First, i got my shingles shot yesterday. No, i’m not 50 yet, but i’m having a procedure where 5% (or 1 in 20) people got the shingles. And since i’ve had chicken pox and the al full-on shingles outbreak when i was 25, i took the first of two shingles vaccines. Every year like everyone else, i get my Covid vaccine and my flu vaccine. And i say everyone ‘cause stupid people don’t read my words. And, sure enough, i get a 24-hour fever. Not fun. Same here. So that knocked me out.
    Then there was the real reason i stopped writing; i finished a book (thanks in full part to the Kriss Relaunch Challenge) and decided to “take a day off.” Well, as you can see, that one day lasted 3 Earth days. Funny how that works.
    I have several self-mottos but this is the one that i can only remember with any consistency: pick your pain.
    Everything hurts. Everything sucks. So you gotta chose which of the sucks, which of the pains, you want.
    Did it feel good playing my historical war games? Heck yeah! Did it suck having the enormous boulder of shame follow me everywhere i went? An even bigger heck yeah. On top of that is the pain of me not getting to my dream of being a full-time author sooner. Sure, i’ll be enjoying living in Europe one day raising a little European family with that one crazy Mexican-American dad, but life is short, i deny myself that reality one less day.
    So, now when i weigh that against the “pleasure” of resting and playing historical wargames, that pain relief starts looking more and more painful, doesn’t it?
    Anyway, a major lesson was learned on this challenge. Momentum is massive. In life, sports. Everything. If i take a break from writing, just take it slow. Do a blog post. But never stop. Whenever you are in a state, you are likely to stay in that state. So if you’re moving, you should stay moving. If you’re staying scratching your belly, you’re gonna stay there doing that.
    Next time i want to celebrate, i have to remind myself, i am giving up pain for another pain. The sometimes painful act of sitting down and making stuff up (it’s actually a ton of fun) or doing the pleasurable thing and playing historical reenactments (actually painful since my guilt refuses me to live in the moment.)
    All right. Good night. Me going sleepy now (if the cat lets me.)
    I plan to do a lot and fail at most of them this month. One thing i won’t be missing, though; writing New Words.

  • Day 6… and 7… and Now 8

    Day 6… and 7… and Now 8

    Welp. Today is Day 8 of the Kris Spring Writing Thingy. That may or may not be the correct name of it so i’ll link to it here.

    Anyway, every day we get an email update of where Kris is on her challenge and how she got there. I’ve opened every email but i just scroll to the bottom to read her word count for that day.

    That woman is non-stop!

    As you can see, she averaging 2,400 words a day! And with my current restart, i’m at 1,500 words a day.

    Now, this is a dangerous thing for us writers. Comparing ourselves to others. Kris has published millions of words and sold millions of more copies and i just finished book nine in my writer’s journey. Full novels i should say. I’ve also started to focus more on the short story format which i’m really digging.

    Anyway, if i compare myself to Kris, i can become a sad puppy. She’s writing 800 more words than me per day and has written 6,000 more words total than me.

    Now, if i was to get a case of compare-a-itis, i’d feel like a big loser. Furtuanlty, my case is mild since i know that she’s sold tens of millions of books and i’ve sold tens of tens of books (hot dang, that’s a good joke i stole from that Progressive commercial).

    But compare me to most would-be artists i’m actually killing it! I’m probably in the Top 1% of writers on Earth this month. Not a lie. I haven’t started Day 8 and in 7 days eg one week, i wrote 10,000 words! That’s insane.

    So, yeah, i’m a little bummed that i’m not keeping up with Kris (You should go on a ski trip to Antarctica this week, Kris. Heard its beautiful this time of year 😉) i gotta be honest, this has been the best i’ve spent on myself in a long time.

    Yesterday, i finished another book/short story that was 16,000 words in total! Usually, these would take me about six months. But since i’m writing a half hour to an hour a day, i finished a project in a week that otherwise woulda taken me months. And now, i get to finish and work on my second story/book. And at this pace, i see no reason why it won’t be done next week or even this week. That is wild.

    So, this is just a big thank you to Kris. Kris and her husband Dean, two of the greatest writers to have graced the Earth, make writing seem easy. Kris could have chosen to keep this writing funk to herself. Remember, there is no such thing as writer’s block, just Project Block. One deserves to be a proper noun and one doesn’t, that’s how serious i am. Instead, Kris chose to go public and show that she’s—gasp!—human! And as she and her husband Dean teach in their workshops, one of the most important things to do is to be accountable. We all know the negatives of social media and i honestly believe there is next to nothing good about it, but it is a fantastic motivator. And Kris decided to open up her restart with others so we could join her.

    I was going to write that they even made money on this but they’re giving everyone one credit for another class or two classes if you keep up with her. So, even though i’m not gonna get those two classes, i will be getting one. All because Kris and Dean wanted to do with me what they’re doing with other writers: making them believe in themselves and their writing again.

    God i love 2024. I love how happy everything is and i think this year is God’s way of saying good job on surviving 2020.

    So, tl;dr Thanks, Kris.

    Okay, gotta get back to work and then get some words in tonight after the j.o.b.

    Peace!

    th

  • Day 5 – WAY Behind Kris

    As i feared, Kris hit her 2,000 words on her Wedding Anniversary. WHY WON’T she take a day off! 🤣 In all seriousness, it was worse than 2k. She hit 2,400 words! So if i do my plan of catchup by writing 2,500, i’ll now be gaining 100 words instead of 500 😔

    BUT there is good news. I won’t repeat yesterday but i wrote 733 instead of not writing anything when i was in write-nothing mood.

    The bad news is, this story has blown up to over 10,000 words and i’m at its end. Why is that bad? ‘Cause i need to read and edit the whole thing to make sure it all makes sense. What we writers call a continuity pass. They’re fun even if most writers don’t like it but it’ll up an hour or two of writing. I nearly always add words when i do a pass, but there’s a part that i’m going to trim down. So, not only will i be losing time, while i add 400 words doing the pass, i’ll probably lose 500 when i cut this one section. So, basically, i’m gonna lose hours and in those hours and gonna have to SUBTRACT from my work count 🤦‍♂️

    C’est la vie. Or as the French say, « Such uhhhh iz uhhhh the life, non ? »

    My words before starting this morning:

    5,006

    Kris’s word count before starting this morning:

    9,180

    Ugh. AND i hope to go to a peace rally too 🕊️

    WHY WON’T YOU SLOW DOWN, KRIS?! 🤣

  • Day 4 – Gonna Lose… But At Least Lose On My Terms, Fighting

    As i feared, i looked at today’s email and what did Kris do? Write over 2,000. Which brought her over 6,000 yesterday versus my 4,000.

    To catch up with the math is easy: write 2,500 words a day. Those 500 words’ll add up.

    But i am tired today. It’s 4 pm and i want to nap. So here is what 99% of the world does. They call it quits for the day, knowing tomorrow is another day and that Future You’ll kill it tomorrow. There are going to be bad days. Heck, Kris will have a day where she doesn’t write. You can catch up there.

    But i refuse to be the 99%. So, i’m gonna write knowing that i’m gonna lose. But at least i’m trying. Something none of my friends and family can say.

    Will it be just a hundred words? Doesn’t matter. The fact that i’m going in, full well knowing i’m going to fail means i already succeeded.

  • Day 3 – Here We Go!

    So, i read the emails from Kris (the lady in charge of the writing challenge) and she’s posted her last results from the first two days. She is averaging 2,000 words a day and has written 4,000 words. So, by the day’s end, she should be at 6,000 words. I want to beat her or at least keep up with her and i have written 1,000 words. The goal for today is 4,000 words. Should be 5,000 but i once did a challenge to see what would happen if i spent all my energy writing and got 6,000 words. With a goal of 4k, i can technically “catch up” by the weekend.

    No more video games, TV shows, or sports. Just writing, writing, and more writing.

  • Day 2 – Second Day… So Far

    Focus, Mate!

    Now that i sound like a Brit or an Australasian demanding that you focus, it’s actually the name of a program that is helping me focus, Focusmate.

    The funny thing about finding this site is that there’s this Facebook Ad where a guy invented a similar program. But it was a ton of money. At the time of this writing, Focusmate is only ten bucks a month. It works as so.

    You pick a time—half hour, hour—and then someone gets matched up with you. They can see your face and you can see theirs. It’s like Facetime but no one talks. But, man oh man, does having an accountability partner work! In the last hour, i’ve wanted to use the restroom or goof off. Instead, i edited over 3,500 words and got to writing this here article. Pretty sweet, huh? I woulda gotten up 10 outta 10 times before this. This made me stay in my chair.

    (Hold on one second as the timer is about to go off and me and my partner check-in with each other. Bee are be.)

    SPOILER ALERT: I never came back.