Another year, another birthday: what it means to me

This is my birthday week, and a friend recently messaged me an article published in our high school paper featuring yours truly. The headline read: Typing Touch Earns Chris Maday Dollars. As I read the piece, I tried to recall life as a 17-year-old junior with my shiny future spread out before me. At the…

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More than thick skin: processing rejection and criticism

Who doesn’t love to receive good news? Or how about the saying: No news is good news? What about when the dreaded rejection arrives for that dream job, much-anticipated date, financial loan or story proposal? For me, the latter hits home big time. From five-sentence summary pitches to 800+-word short story submissions, the no’s outweigh…

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