Would you stop celebrating Valentine's day? And replace it with your own special day?

 

Have you ever thought about what it would be like if you decided to take the pressure off yourself and your loved one? Not celebrate the love you share on Feb 14th but on your chosen day? Maybe the day you met, went out for a first date, or knew you had found your soulmate. Celebrate your love without the need to post it on social media or buy overpriced flowers and chocolates. 

2020 taught us that we can manage with a lot less. What are your thoughts about replacing Valentine's day with something else? And dedicate Feb 14th to planting for spring? Or picking up a new hobby to show some self-love?

Leave comments below.

I have a special gift for you. Click below to download a short story I wrote titled "Love Their Neighbor".

Click here for Love Their Neighbor

A time gone by

It was this day a decade ago,

That my heart tumbled and fell,

Hit by a golden lightning arrow

From where it came, I couldn't tell.

An ache, a stab, a pain by any name

Ebbing and rising with time.

I learned to walk, unsteady, nay lame

The heart, healing over time

The ecstasy has faded, a soft spot remains

One question rankles: but why

did your feelings break free from their chains

For one day alone, tell me why?

You may never know where your words took me,

for I traveled back many a birth.

Finding love from a life before

When we were together on this earth.

Embracing the past is a way to heal

Skimming through life, the mind

Pauses, every now and then when it meets

someone with whom one's life is entwined.

Writing short stories

 For a change, this year I plan to focus on short stories. I started with The Final Puzzle in 2017 and published it in 2019. In 2020, I published The Empress's Guilt, not quite a novella but longer than a short story. Both were immensely satisfying to research and write.

I am working on a couple of longer stories now. "Why did my doctor leave?" is intended to be a satire dealing with physician turnover, physician burnout, and physician suicide, problems that have yet to sink into the general public consciousness. These are problems that cannot be ignored since they affect the very safety net of society. When your healthcare providers are killing themselves, something is critically wrong. The motto "Physician heal thyself" implies that physicians are responsible for their health issues. They are not. Like most people, physicians get trapped in the system. Physician suicide and physician burnout are system issues. I am hoping my story, whether it turns out to be i.e. novel, novella etc will highlight these problems with empathy.

The second story is called "Karna's redemption". The premise of this story is this: What if Draupadi married Karna? Would Kurukshetra have happened? Was war unavoidable?

Writing provides a great outlet for me. I cannot wait to get home after work, spend some time with my daughter and then find some "me" time to write. Stephen King calls writing "self-hypnosis". I completely agree.

So this year, I have decided to write more short stories as fillers between " Karna's redemption" and "Why did my doctor leave?"

Here is a list of classic short stories I intend to read and review. Of these, I am familiar with the last 2 stories. The Ransom of Red Chief is one of the funniest stories I have read.

1. The most dangerous game

2. The Lady and the Tiger

3. The celebrated jumping frog of Calaveras county

4. The Necklace

5. The Pit and the Pendulum

6. The Fall of the House of Usher

7. The ransom of the Red Chief

8. The Gift of Magi

Other notable mentions:

The ones who walk away from Omelas

I will be emailing my short stories periodically to those who would like to read them.