In December 2015, I acquired a group of new seahorses for my reef aquarium. One of them arrived with an illness that should have claimed his life, but after 6 weeks in a hospital tank, little “Weeble” (click here for his full story, with photos) joined the reef. I used him in my keynote speech at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ 2015 Colorado Gold Conference, as an example of perseverance–nobody told him he could not live, and he lived because he refused to surrender. Now, he’s thriving, because of his own determination and because of the other seahorses who came around him,
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He Wobbles…But He Won’t Fall Down–and We Won’t, Either.
During my keynote at last weekend’s Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Colorado Gold Conference, I told the story of one of my special needs seahorses…little Weeble. He’s now a healthy, happy seahorse, “one of the gang”–and has no idea he’s different from the others in any way. Wherein lies a lesson (actually, many, but only one I’m going to highlight here today): When I discovered my writing herd at Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, my dreams of a writing career were lying, curled and broken-tailed, on the bottom of my own proverbial tank. I’d worked and written for over a decade, churning out
Read moreCuriosity Kills the Seahorse Too*
* (All of mine are fine. It’s just a title.) Before I started seahorse-keeping, I had no idea just how curious (see also: foolish) these little exotic fish could be. They start exploring the minute they hit the tank… Seahorse keepers know (or learn, often tragically) that a seahorse doesn’t belong in a “mixed reef” tank. In the wild, seahorses live in highly specialized environments. Mostly, they hide in sea grass or live in “gentle” reef environments, with peaceful, slow-moving fish and corals that lack the ability to sting. The plated armor that covers the seahorse’s body is a bit deceptive. Despite their rugged appearance,
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