story – Delight in Disorder

Portrait of a Writer as a Young Boy – my writing life, the first 15 years.

I have been a writer for almost 50 years now. My first essays lacked originality but made up for it in word count. I will not trade baseball cards in class... I will not trade baseball cards in class... I will not... 500 sentences. 4000 words. Long-hand. I’ve learned many lessons in writing through the years and they started right there in 3rd grade. You must suffer for your art. Ask my sister and she’ll tell you l’ve shortened this to a life motto, “You must suffer.” It was in 5th grade that I learned how delightful it was to write about my favorite subject. Me. The Autobiography of Tony E Roberts was part mythic, part statistic recounting of my early athletic prowess. I remember it best for the cover - an huge orange baboon in the lotus position. In his book On Writing Stephen King says, If you don’t have [...]

Portrait of a Writer as a Young Boy – my writing life, the first 15 years.tonyroberts2021-11-03T06:40:12-04:00

The Pursuit of Happiness — Monica’s Call, chapter two

Suddenly, the phone rang. Had he been sleeping? “Hello?” “Dad, this is Monica. Are you okay?” “Yes. I’m fine. Why do you ask?” “Dad! Of course you’re not fine. Mom has just left you! But it’s going to be okay. You’re going to make it through this. Just have faith. One step at a time.” He tried to think of a response. His mind was blank. “Can I help you with something?” “Dad! I’m the one who should be helping you. Listen, I’m picking Philip up from soccer at noon. We’ll come right over and I’ll bring you back to our place. You’ll stay with us for a while, at least until we get this sorted out.” “Thank you, Monica. But, I really don’t think that’s necessary.” “Dad! You’ve been together for over 40 years. Do you even know where the can opener is?” He thought about it for a [...]

The Pursuit of Happiness — Monica’s Call, chapter twotonyroberts2021-04-14T16:22:06-04:00

The Pursuit of Happiness — Leaving for Good, chapter one

My mind has been stagnant lately. My muse has been silent. Depressive episodes do this to me sometimes. I lack the energy and motivation to cultivate a concept and bring it to life in the world. The more time that passes without creating a new piece of work, the more anxious I become that I will ever write something worthwhile again. When I fall into this quagmire, I sometimes look back and rework things of the past. I began the following over seven years ago now. I conceived it as the opening chapter of a short story, "The Pursuit of Happiness," that would be the closing of a trilogy that would also include "Life," and "Liberty." I'm not sure what will develop, but I really like spending time with the members of the Jacobson family and hope to go with them where they take me. Stephen Jacobson’s day was [...]

The Pursuit of Happiness — Leaving for Good, chapter onetonyroberts2021-04-14T16:29:10-04:00

Your burning questions about mental illness

Near the end of 2019, I completed work on a draft manuscript for my second book. I had written Delight in Disorder while my brain was still in a fog. As my editor put it, I needed to walk the reader through the rooms of my bipolar mind. This second book had the working title of From Despair to Delight: Stories to cultivate compassion and foster friendship with those impacted by mental illness. It was also composed as a memoir, but one that more readily flowed with my story as a man of faith living with a serious mental illness. My intent with the first book was to help those feeling disconnected with faith to reconnect. My aim with this book is to help pastors and church leaders build a sanctuary for those with troubled minds. I felt good about what I had written. So good, in fact, that I sent [...]

Your burning questions about mental illnesstonyroberts2020-01-29T21:14:44-05:00