Athena Grayson

Life, Act Two: Anti-Social Media

Hi. I’m anti-social (Uncle social and all the cousin-socials are back there at the snack bar. Ba-dum-bump. Thank you, I’m here all week. Try the veal and tip your wait staff…) Yes. Even those of us who seem like we’re chatterboxen at parties can be hiding a chewy, introverted center. It takes a lot of […]

Life, Act Two: Stress Is A Language

Stress is a language your body uses to tell you many things. You should learn to speak it, and listen when it speaks. It has much to tell you about yourself–and about others.

Life, Act Two-sdays: Working Smarter

Aside from the obvious bad habits, I’ve been looking at my good and neutral habits as well, and asking WHY I do what I do. Because even if it’s a good habit, I still need to know why.

Life, Act Two-sdays: Life Gardening

It’s June. Summer is here and the days are ripe and long. You may not realize it right away, but Act Two is the summer of life. You’re in full bloom. Your glow is bright, and shines long. You’re in the fullness of your life. And you still have a loooong growing season ahead of you. […]

Life, Act Two-sdays: Second Adulthood

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the series I’m working on right now. The WinterJacked series masquerades as a paranormal romance, a romantic fantasy, or a contemporary chick-lit/women’s fiction hybrid. It doesn’t seem to live comfortably in any of these genres, though, because its genre hasn’t caught on yet. I’m talking about the peculiar […]

Life, Act Two-sdays: Infrastructure

Infrastructure. Most people think, “roads and bridges” when they hear the word. When you’re into Act Two on the stage of life, infrastructure is the knowledge that those stationary set-pieces will be doing double-duty, serving as sketch-definitions of many spaces in which you tell your story. By the time Act Two rolls around, you have seen […]

Life, Act Two-sdays: Tragi-Comedy

Ever notice how most “serious” films, “important” books, and “hard-hitting” media tend to be depressing in nature? They either feature terrible people doing rotten things, or awful things happening to good people for no good reason. I have to wonder why? Why is senseless death so much more “keepin’ it real” than, say, the triumph […]

Life, Act Two-sdays: Love The One You’re With

One of the liberties granted to me by entering Act Two is that I’m no longer so aggressively marketed to as I once was. Oh, I’m still chased down like a tired fox by a pack of starving ad-hounds when it comes to appealing to my motherhood and my skin elasticity, but I’m not so […]