Day: January 15, 2026

I am working towards getting over a great many things. I am, for example, trying to dispel the concern that the last time I was paid for my writing was April of 2025. That pay was for work performed in 2024… I have published several game books and a novel since then. So there are thousands of dollars still owed to me and no timeline for when I might be paid, in spite of the company continuing to profit off my work… Gotta get over it. Gotta get over the kid drama as illustrated yesterday. I have to fall back into the routine of accepting the things I cannot change as well as not allowing myself to be bullied or overlooked in any way. If that means making a bigger stink about the money, so be it. As of now, I have no intention of turning in any more work until I am paid for past work due.

Getting over it is part of the way towards building a better self. We all hold on to too much in life. We all allow ourselves to grip on tightly to ideas, perceived slights, hopes, etc. We carry them with us throughout life and they weigh us down. I remember learning somewhere as a kid that a lie is a thing that festers in you. It becomes a sickness you have to watch and monitor to ensure it doesn’t destroy you. Even small ones are dangerous. I think all the things we carry are like that–wearing us down until the best we can do is bare minimum. I no longer wonder if I’ve become like that. I know I have.

Now I have to climb out from under it all, no matter how long that takes.

What does it mean to be a good parent? I don’t have an answer besides being there for your kids and helping them make smart choices. I am not very good at it as it turns out. In fact, I’m being shut out of the decision making process entirely when it comes to where my mid-kid is going land out of the portal. He hired an agent and I’m sure that is a factor in the conversation, but the biggest factor I see is that he’s 18 and wanting to show he can make grown up decisions all on his own. He’s taking his mom along on visits and given the fact that she has zero experience or knowledge about anything having to do with the sport or academia (outside of having gone to college), I don’t think he’s taking her along for valuable advice. I think he’s icing me out in order to make his own grown man choices.

So, is it bad parenting that this is happening that way, or have I done enough to get him to the point where he can make these choices on his own. Either way, for a kid to push out his dad does show that the relationship isn’t a thing to be praised. I don’t think my relationship with any of my kids is a thing to be praised. The only one I can look at with any sort of pride is the one with the Lady Talis and maybe the one with the youngest–though he rarely shows me the level of respect a father deserves.

This is a sports blog day and I’m talking about the darker side of being a sport parent. It’s really about being a support parent. You take them around, pay for the things, do all that is asked of you but in the end, you’re overlooked and often forgotten if you’re the dad. Sports are about the mother. Athletes are always supposed to take care of mom. So, where does that leave dad?