Writer
Payton Rawls
T
his is my content corner where I write about things of interest. It may be about dating, spiritual musing, something funny my wife and kids did, working out, nutrition, spiritual health...
The topics will vary wildly, but hopefully will stop you in your tracks or have you laughing along the way.
The blog portion will also be a chronicling of my journey to becoming a published writer. I'll share my frustrations, milestones, triumphs and joys.
I hope you come with me and enjoy the journey.
"S
ABOUT ME
tories are where the voices in my head go to breathe."
Payton Rawls believes the power of story is the enemy of trauma. He grew up in North Philadelphia hoarding experiences he would later turn into stories. "No pain is wasted," is the worldview he adopted when he learned to channel his life into art. Every heart has a word, every experience, its own sound. He and his wife share their home in Massachusetts with their precocious daughter, affectionate sons, artful teenager, and developing belly kicker. When he’s not at work as an engineer or spending time with his family, he can be found fighting off old age and gravity at the gym.
He’s written four books, currently unpublished, and is a member of Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Payton wants to live in world where his words, his stories reach into the darkness, into the corners of the heart that hold people prisoner, and set them free.
orning. Snow fell like rain. We, the only two foolish enough to venture out. She approached from the corner. We both smiled.
I slipped into mound of snow and we laughed.
How I loved your mother is how I love you, like a smile in a snow storm.
M
01
She reached and he pulled his shoulder back, a wisp's distance from her touch. "It doesn't have to be this way."
"Doesn't it?"
A stutter caught in her chest.
He sighed, placed a cigarette between his lips, shielding the fire with his palm as he lit. He took a deep breath and blew out a specter of smoke. "Unless you can despise me more than I, nothing you offer matters. Your charity carries a stench and my self-loathing is too complete."
02
Smoke stabbed at his eyes. His chest bucked as he walked into the fire, pulling her closer. Even as his palms seared. Even as the rain gawked from a distance.
03
