Lucas J. Draeger
Banish me to a dark corner, chain me to a keyboard, and I will gladly be a word slave. I'd sit there all day, with only an occasional demand for a coffee break.
I'm a would-be (wanna be) author, middle aged, fairly repressed, but extremely BLESSED with an amazing wife and two brilliant boys.
For several years, I've been haunted by images of the starving, drug addicted, victimized teens of the streets. I write about them a lot.
Today is my fortieth birthday. Apparently, this is something of a benchmark. I’m fortunate to have a couple undisturbed hours to craft a fortieth birthday gift for myself. This is a small slice of life that’s rattled in the back of my head for awhile now. Like the narrator, […]
Hour two of my four hour drive home from central Washington, and I find myself thinking the same thought millions before me have and millions after will repeat to themselves – “There’s a whole lot of nothin’ out here.” I’m glad to […]
Mornings I stand at the window, watching you, waiting for you to go. I stand until my feet grow tired, and I wonder sometimes what takes you so long to pull away. How things have changed. Not long ago, I ran to catch you before you walked out […]
There is power in words, never so prevalent as when words are put into writing. There is a permanence to writing which amplifies the power, but I believe there is even more to it. It’s something about the thought which goes into the writing. When […]
You turn ten today. I vividly recall last year when you turned nine, I suffered several days with anxiety over the fact that you were merely a year from hitting double digits. I have a visceral aversion to calendars and dates – systems that serve […]
My first “published” story was written during the second grade. The story was titled The Brick Monster, and my teacher thought it worthy of submission to the state young authors competition. Weeks later, I found myself in a stark room – a classroom for grown […]
Last month, I joined a book club. I confess it’s a small one, perhaps too small to refer to as a club, as we are only two members, and one of us is soundly dead. Mind you, this deceased member – the club’s founder, […]
I write today in defense of Life. No, this isn’t an anti-abortion or anti-death penalty message I’m bringing, though it often feels that it’s only in the context of those hot button issues that Life is thought about in a positive way. When we aren’t defending the rights […]
It’s been said that humans are the eyes of the Universe, looking in upon itself. I suppose it explains why so many of us mirror the act by looking in upon our own selves, rather than remaining attentive to the World around us. We […]
Shawn shakes his head. “There seems to be a lack of understanding here,” he says. Over several days, my friend Shawn and I have become regulars in this neglected little corner of the cruise ship monikered Adventure of the Seas. The lounge has all the […]