In the last podcast of vernontalks Season 2, I welcome everyone back after a summer hiatus and reveal intimate details about the premiere of my second short film titled "Inside Out", the ending sequel to my first short film, "Upside Down". (both films can be located on my YouTube page '3 Castl3s Film').  

After a year in which I : severely injured my foot in a work related accident in March, sold our home in July and moved a state away for a better job opportunity, then moved us back due to certain issues that arose and me securing a better job for me and my family back in our home state, needless to say I have a lot of things to chat about and discuss when it comes to life and its curveballs. 

I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels this way and can only imagine the stories all of you could share with me.  

Not only do I inspire myself by getting some verbal weight off my shoulders, but I hope my level headed revelations have some way of inspiring others who may be listening to my words.  I ask myself 'where to go from here?' and seriously contemplate out loud where that direction may be me for my life and my art (vernonwrites.com). 

Where does destiny leads us if we let her? I guess there's only one way to find out. 

I appreciate all of you. I hope all of your dreams are coming true. I hope you have great mental health and are in a place in your life where you are happy and content. Your time means the world to me, and I hope you never, ever feel like you are walking alone in this life. 

You are not. 

Trust me!

In this podcast, I dig into the premise of the phrase "Don't Look Down" and how it applies to me and my current struggle - getting second and third degree burns on my foot and having to get a skin graft to repair the damage. I not only give eye witness testimony of what I encountered in the days following my accident, but I also discuss the mental, physical, and spiritual battle that exists with this type of injury.

What does one do when faced with pain and the unknown that we call the future? Do you give up? Do you keep climbing your mountain? Do you question yourself? Do you reflect? Do you become angry? Do you let fear creep in? Do you remain confident?

After going through a traumatic event, some people would say they are no longer the same person they were before. Some would say they are a better version of what they used to be. Some might confess to being the same person.

I know where I stand and am proud to know, when I'm nervous about being at a high, foreign elevation, all I really need to do is stare at the incredible view in front of me and not do the one thing that my body tempts me into doing - looking down. From here on out, I have to promise myself to keep my line of sight facing forward so it is easier for me to take that first step and walk.

The lesson was simple and it was there, in front of me, the entire time.

In this episode, I talk about the New Year 2022 and all of the things in between.

Where does life have you right now? Using your mirrors to look behind you? Stuck in neutral while you check your gauges and GPS? Or looking forward at the undiscovered landscape that lies in the distance?

Life is not always easy (especially this day and age), and we need to be thankful for good health and the friends and family that get us through our tough spots. We are in this journey together, and we can do great things if we allow ourselves to.

Every human being on this earth is answered in three simple forms: 'Yes', 'No', and 'Wait'. 

Which one is hardest for you to hear and digest?

I know what mine is!

Do you?

In this podcast, I discuss a somewhat big, personal, artistic occurrence that is to take place this week - the premiere of my short film. 

The title is Upside Down, and it revolves around the one thing that connects all of us - that thing being loss. Whether we have lost a piece of ourselves or a tangible piece of something out "there", we have all experienced this occurrence because it does not discriminate race, religion, orientation, political status, or socio-economic status. 

Loss knows no boundaries, and this film is going to depict this in its most raw and natural form.  

Come, have a listen, and enjoy me expressing the excitement, the anxiousness, the nostalgia, of this peculiar position as I continue forward on my non-linear journey through time and space.

The time is not now. Quit believing that lie. The time was yesterday! 

Have you ever known someone who continuously said, "I'm Not Happy", and did nothing to change their situational mindset? Have you ever known someone who said that phrase of inevitable doom and took steps to transform their life into something better and more meaningful? Now, the three point three million dollar question - have you ever been, or currently are, one of those two people?

In my new podcast, "I'm Not Happy", we dissect this declarative occurrence and figure out the whys, whens, whos, and whats of being in a temporal funk of the such. 

Only one solution exists.

Considering life is short and time is not being sold on shelves quite yet, what can we do to get to where we need to be so we can finally be happy? 

To start off Season 2 of my new podcasting venture, I tell the listener what we are headed for this time around. Season 2 is going to take a different direction than Season 1, and I look forward to the journey that we are going to embark on as our scenery changes for this leg of the road trip. 

I labeled this episode "Dreamcatchers" because I wanted to talk about dreams, people, and the chase that goes into making them a reality. Why do dreams come true? Why do dreams not come true? Why do failed dreams sometimes lead to something better than what we were chasing before? Where do we find the balance considering the world wants to steal as much as it can from us, now, more than it ever has?

After listening to "Dreamcatchers", I hope all of you realize that you are not in this fight alone - the fight of pursuing your dreams with relentless dedication and focus until they manifest into the greatest thing that any person could ever ask for - validation - and the magical word you hear when you finally make it,

"Congratulations!" 

Listen to "Dreamcatchers" and pass it along. You got this. Always have, from the day you were born into this puzzle that we are all trying to put together - the puzzle of life!

www.vernonwrites.com

In my last podcast of Season 1, "Make A Night Out", we discuss an instance when you conjure up that one scene from a movie and proceed to live it out with someone else who desires the same perfection. 

We are introduced to the narrator, a man who is bored at home, lounging on his couch while surfing a dating app. An idea shoots through his head to wake him out of his temporary slumber. His idea - visit the hottest club in town on the hottest night of the week and live out a scenario he has only seen on television or in the movies. To add to the complexity of the situation, the narrator wants to dive into this Hollywood dream scene with someone who catches his eye and never lets it go.

Does he succeed in fulfilling his wildest fantasy or does it merely slip through his fingers like his life is currently doing with each second he wastes on his couch?

There's only way to find out.

Listen to, "Make A Night Out!"

In this podcast, we talk about the one term that a significant other does not like to be referred or compared to, that descriptive word being 'typical'.

In this reading, the narrator finds himself toe to toe with the love of his life, in a scene that simultaneously overwhelms all of his senses because of its cosmic, neon noir. While she plays her own version of cat and mouse, he tries his best to fight off the notion of thinking that particular word in regards to his soulmate. Even when the game gets hot and heavy, he does everything he can to maintain his composure and make sure that one deadly word does not enter his brain or leave his mouth.

Does he succeed in sneaking around this common debacle or does his significant other's antics finally prod him into the inevitable.

There's only one way to find out.

Listen to, "She's Far From Typical."

In this podcast, we talk about sealing the deal and bringing it home when you have a somewhat choppy conversation with your loved one after a long day of work.

Have you and your significant other partook in a conversation that went completely downhill after you asked what the plans were for dinner? Who was the one that rebounded the disconnect that existed between two heavy phone lines? Was it him? Was it her? Was it you?

"Bunnies, Bulls, and Bathtubs" is narrated from a man's perspective of such a situation. Just when it seems like all hope is lost, the narrator digs down and settles a somewhat chaotic day with ideas that only begins to tickle the imaginations of other homesick lovers. 

Does he succeed in turning around the love of his life's composure with simple plans that he waits to complicate once she gets home after her long day?

There's only one way to find out!

Listen to "Bunnies, Bulls, and Bathtubs."

In this podcast, I talk about the time I was asked to clean out a religious lady's house after her passing. From that experience, I was able to construct a writing that resonates a dark, more sinister side to Southern living. 

People say "home is where the heart is", yet what happens when home does not feel like home anymore? In a land labeled as 'God's Country', what happens when you see and encounter more demons than angels? What happens when riding bicycles on a dirt road is long forgotten and is exchanged for lethargic revelations?

After boxing away this spiritually devout Catholics life in numerous cardboard boxes and wrapping her life treasures in bubble wrap, what did I really gain from this experience? Was I asked to do this sacred job and carry it through with grace and fragility because no one else would have? Out of all the places this woman could have lived and call home, why did she choose a corn laced, soybean surrounding, hog farm smelling Southern backdrop?

I'm constantly looking for a way out, yet she was looking and found a way in.

Why?

This truly cannot be the land of milk and honey.

This is the land of Southern Shadows Gothic.