Adrenaline

Cracks the stem,

removes breath

in waves of red,

nerves unpinch.

The cherry breaks

concrete thought,

loosens the band,

releases grip.

And so I attempt poetry again (don't laugh). As the tendon in my hand and wrist slowly heals (yes, it's a long, long journey), I've been going to great lengths to assist the natural process that will restore strength, and I wanted to share what's been working for me. Adrenaline, when focused properly helps, as does diet and meditation.

The first thing I've been doing is focusing my breath. One exercise I've found especially useful is the sixty second breath in which I sit comfortably and inhale slowly for twenty seconds, hold for twenty seconds, then exhale for twenty seconds. This exercise is a meditation in of itself.

I have also been  taking a variety of herbal and vitamin supplements that are said to help strengthen the tendons or reduce inflamation:

Tumeric

Cardamom

Glucosomine and Chondroitin

Vitamin B Complex

More: I've eliminated artifical sweeteners from my diet which is harder than it sounds because food manufacturing companies sneak Splenda and the like into a lot of products so that they can market processed foods as "healthy alternatives". Anyway, the point of this is that I've gone to great lengths to modify diet, along with a regimen of stretching, hand exercises, and ice/heat treatments. And, I've read that artificial sweeteners can actually build up in the joints. I don't want to take any chances.

I'm not sure which or if it all has helped, but, for what it's worth, the combination has done the trick. I'm on the mend. In fact, I'll be writing like a mad woman again soon. One thing I've learned about pain, in the meantime, is that it can be trumped. I've learned to see pain as a sort of blockage that can be loosened with perseverence and, more, patience. 

Happy New Year

Who out there has resolutions in place for 2012?

I asked a dozen or so people yesterday whether they were making resolutions for the new year and every last one of them said no. There seems to be a negative connotation to the word for many people, but for me, the new year is a chance to reevaluate and wipe the slate clean. It's a time for renewal and to set goals.

Here were my 2011 resolutions:

1. Write some stuff.

2. Stop using smiley faces. :)

3. Continue to workout to those horrid Jillian Michaels tapes. I love/hate her.

4. Continue drinking coffee in abundance, but spend less money (i.e. less Starbucks)

5. Don't fall asleep in my contact lenses or on a bus.

6. Get Chris to workout by any means necessary.

7. Read as many books as I did in 2010, even if I find full-time work.

8. Say no every now and then just for practice, so it's not awkward when I really need to say the word (this will be fun).

9.  Come up with a bad-ass pen name so that I can write vampire erotica without anyone knowing. (I'm open to suggestions.)
  10. Blog regularly.     

So how'd I do?


1. Done
2. Working on it
3. I did this until May, when I pulled a tendon and had to modify my workouts
4. Utter failure until, rather recently, my car battery died in the drive-thru of Starbucks, which I took as a sign to man up and renew this goal.
5. Only a few misses here
6. Utter failure
7. Sure enough read as much as possible. I'm currently reading The Marriage Plot and will have a lot to say upon its completion.
8. Did it, and yes, it was fun
9. This may or may not still come to fruition
10. Semi-regularly

Okay, so I didn't hit on quite a few of those but I'm in no way, shape or form discouraged. In fact, I feel like I have all the more resolve for the new year. After some reflection and reevaluation, I'm ready to begin again.

2012

1. Tell the best possible story each time I write

2. Do not write to publish but simply write, then publish

3. Vary my workouts and avoid backbend push-ups, no matter what

4. Eat just a little better than last year

5. Don't fall asleep in my contact lenses or on a bus (this one is worth the carry-over)

6. Make trips to see my family despite finances 

7. Be patient with my loved ones--let them make their own resolutions

8. Pay outrageous student loans without cursing, stomping feet or looking up to the ceiling and screaming, "Why?"

9. Find either a) an agent and/or b) a fellowship that will bridge the gap between the larger literary world and my working life

10. Smile more (this one's weighted)

11. Get in the habit of turning my cell phone off at work and on when I get home (a biggie)

If you have resolutions, I'd love to hear them. 

Photo credit: Sarunyu_foto

HAPPY 2012!

2011 - Rough Writing

It's been an interesting year. Not too prolific on the blog here, I must say, but I've done my fair share of writing. I've pounded out quite a few words over various projects, but unlike other years, when I've found or made the time, 2011 has been a tough year to write. In fact, it proved damn-near impossible.

- June 2011 -

Between a slow-healing hand and wrist injury to a tendon that still lingers to this day if I have pen in hand for too long (typing is far easier, but still with its limits), a robbery, and a bout of unexpected underemployment that lasted right up to September at which point I became hyper-employed (needfully, thankfully) and began a 40hr/week copy editing job on top of teaching, my writing presence (especially online) has been suffering. Yet, I have continued to write. Because no matter the loss of use of a hand or time or resources, we writers write. We're a touch crazy like that--addicted to making the intangible tangible. So, I wrote a sentence here and there. Here's how: I used voice recognition software, I wrote with my left hand, on breaks, in the in-between time, the waiting-in-line time, any time I could for as long as I could. 

Writing is something I always took for granted to be there for me. But after this year's obstacles, I've reevaluated the value of my writing time. I've realized what a luxury it is to write. And though I'm not yet where I'd like to be in the literary world, I've recently remembered why I truly do what I do: I love being part, if in some small way, of the literary conversation that occurs between writer and reader. I enjoy being on both sides of it, exploring this insane world through a series of strings of words. Clinging to this urge, I'll continue on without taking anything for granted. 

And if I get a break here and there, I'll aim to be more active on this blog. I plan to post about a forthcoming story soon, and as for book three... I'll post again in the new year. 

**I received a beautiful thank you note from http://www.1800runaway.org/, for the donation from the sales of Musical Chairs in September. I plan to donate any royalties from the sales of this book again in January. I'd love for the amount to be higher this time. In fact, this time I will match my royalty sales and donate that amount. If you're interested in buying the book, please purchase it from Amazon, either in Kindle or paperback. If you purchase it from Barnes & Noble or outside of the U.S., notify me here as these sales post later with my publisher so that I know to count the sale toward the total.     

Intermission

I was thrilled to do an interview with the good people at Independent Ink Magazine. It was fun teasing out my thoughts about the changing publishing world and how my life as a writer began. 

Check out the magazine! It's amazing.

Expect Part V the first week in October. I'm a little behind since I started a new job this week (yes, I'm still teaching too), but I won't leave you hanging if you've been following along.

Intermission

Last week's intermission sucked. Sorry about that. The good news is, I should be making up for it this week. We're currently in talks to reschedule the radio show, which I'd like to do in September while all Musical Chairs royalties are going to the National Runaway Switchboard.

I'll definitely post a link, and chances are that it will be soon. In the meantime, I found this last week and wanted to share -> 20 Greatest Memoirs - Mental Illness. Musical Chairs (#12) is the only small press book on that list. Furthermore, it is a list that was compiled for the benefit of its message rather than literary props (which, for this particular book, means more than anything).

Hmn, okay, back to business...

I may be a little late posting installment four because it just might be the last installment. I'm really writing this as I go, so we'll see. Why the hell did I ever decide to write this live?  This is as unpredictable for me as it is you, which makes it fun and nerve-wracking all at the same time. Either way, Part IV is coming at'cha before the 23rd (at the latest).

Intermission

Interrupting my serial story with an, urm, story. Check out "Needy Kids" at Bluestem Magazine.

(Part II is in the works.)

Cereal

Um... I mean serial. But cereal seems more interesting as a title right now because It's early, and I'm hungry.

OK, so, my hand is all better (just about), and I'm writing again. The problem is I am now boring because I've been inactive these last few months due to constant pain and whatnot.

So, I plan to revamp this blog for a while. In other words, I will no longer discuss me or my writing life here. Instead.... I will post fiction. Yup. Original, unpublished fiction. It's a serial story that I will be writing as I go, and I hope you enjoy it. I'll post the first tonight Saturday 08/27/11, and the plan here is to add to this story each weekend.

I am undecided as to whether I'll leave up the archives. Perhaps I'll make up my mind as I go, depending on whether my mom is the only person who logs in to read this story. What I have now is a premise. I will write today and post later tonight. We'll see where it goes. And who knows? Maybe my life will become interesting again soon, and I'll go back to the navel gazing.

Hope you join me!

Brand New Story

Click this BIG link to read my latest short story "Types of Circus" in fwriction : review ...


http://www.fwrictionreview.com/post/8777878403/types-of-circus-by-jen-knox

Ass-backward hibernation

Well, it's official, I'll be in charge of the San Antonio College Writing Center again. Only this time, it will be just me and one other coordinator running the show. I can't wait to get started. I have so many ideas, and I feel truly privileged to have the opportunity. This is a supplementary position to teaching, so I'll still have two classes and my freelance work. I just hope I can keep up with everything.

Ironically, I haven't been able to do much of anything this month, and I'm having a tough time with it. There, I said it. No sugarcoating. If you follow this blog, you already know that I have a ruptured tendon in my hand/wrist. The injury is preventing me from using my right hand to do just about anything. And it's a constant, dull pain. I've been doing my best. I use voice recognition software for email and social media, and sometimes, like now, I just type left-handed.

Here's the thing: Writing is my Prozac. It's my therapist, my mirror, my stress relief. It's how I work out needless worry and manage necessary concerns. And I miss it. I've been going through a lot of emotional distress lately, and sure, much of it has come from the pain. But I think most of it comes from simply not being able to write. And though I know that this will pass, the injury will heal, right now it sucks.

I'm a strong believer that illness is often my body's way of telling me to slow down. Forcing me, rather. And slow down I have! With the new position, I'm sure I'll need it. In the meantime, I'm healing, hibernating, storing up ideas and reorganizing old work. I'm preparing myself for a lot of wonderful things to come this fall. It's so easy to forget when in the middle of it, but the pain does pass. I should know this by now.


Check out To Begin Again, an award-winning collection of short stories & Musical Chairs, a memoir about rebellion and reinvention.

New Work & Interview

Here's the latest publication. I wrote this a year or so ago. Also, if you'd like to read about my writing process (part of which I am still doing daily, despite my injury), check out my interview in Black Fox Literary Magazine. It's a debut issue and very well done. I'm thrilled to be a part.

*More good news (and another plug for the collection)! I found out that To Begin Again is now a finalist for the Readers Favorite Competition as well. I'll find out soon if it placed. If you'd like to read the review of the book, go here: http://readersfavorite.com/review/4015

I love you all. Hope to be back in action soon. In the meantime, if you write, write extra for me. :)

End of July

As my hand continues to heal at the pace of a snail swimming backwards through molasses on a humid day, I'm concentrating on non-typing things. One is a series of podcasts that I am creating for my creative writing courses (craft/inspirational stuff) and to share samples of my short stories. Here's my first go... 


Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to upload audio to Blogger yet, so in the meantime listen to "The Probability of Him" (from To Begin Again) here: http://www.jenknox.com


Also, check out brand new fiction in The Criterion: An International Journal in English.

back in action

Okay, so here I am blogging. But not in the traditional sense. Today is the first day that I've used voice recognition software, and so far it seems to be working pretty well. The fact of the matter is I don't have a choice. It's either rest my hand completely or risk permanent damage, so here I am dictating… and it feels damn strange.

I'd like to make a plea to all the writers out there—take care of your wrists and hands. Consider this: I didn't really start writing until I was 18. So even though I have written quite a few words during this time frame, I've really only been writing for 13 years. Yet, here I am with a serious repetitive strain injury (RSI). Given the fact that computers are currently being first used by toddlers as opposed to teenagers (as was the case on I was younger), I wouldn't be surprised if everyone suffers from some sort of computer related RSI injury in the future.

One of the most valuable things I've learned from getting tendinitis is that it is often caused by improper positioning and unnecessary tightness around the wrists and hands (I also learned that I have a remarkably low threshold for pain, but that's another story). If you notice any tightness when you write, or if you hold your hand in the same way—especially if you allow it to hover over the keyboard in a rigid position—check out the following exercises: http://www.handhealthresources.com/Solutions%20Pages/Exercises.htm

They help a great deal, both for preventative care and during the healing process.

It's been rather unbearable to not be able to write. In a way, it's really made me realize how valuable writing is to my life. I underestimated how often I sit down at the computer and write despite the fact that I don't have a regular routine. Personally, I've always tended to write whenever I find the time, which is usually in between other activities. But these in between times really add up. Having not had the ability to write over the last two weeks, I have damn near gone crazy. Luckily, my writing is supporting itself in that I got a few award checks this month that paid for this software. I'll keep you up to date as far as how everything goes, but for now it seems to be going okay… the only way to heal tendinitis is through rest, and unfortunately I'm not a to point my life yet where I can take off of work for a long period of time so for now voice recognition will have to do.

It will be interesting to see if I can complete creative work using voice recognition. I will say, it does feel quite a bit different. Something about the process of recording my thoughts seems somehow off... if nothing else, this is the way to get the rough ideas down.

In writing news, I have just received my hard copy of Short Story America. To share the pages with such talented writers is a distinct honor. I want to thank Tim Johnston and recognize the other authors in the anthology; it's a beautiful work, physically and content-wise. Also, I'd like to thank Dawn Herring for providing some great links that helped me to put together the workshop and provide a set of resources for the participants of the Journal Writing workshop at the San Antonio Public Library. I had an amazing time teaching this workshop. I was surprised and delighted by the wide variety of ages and backgrounds—from seasoned writers to those who had never before considered keeping a journal—which made the event truly magical. I have been invited back to teach another workshop in the fall, and I will be announcing the details about that event on my website very soon.

Thank you for hanging in there with me. I hope to be more active on this blog soon as I get used to this software, and hopefully find a full recovery within a few weeks thanks to the rest that will allow. For now, I'm tired of listening to myself…

Recovery

Ha! I don't know if I'm getting better at writing with my left hand; it looks as though I've plateaued, but the good news is that I've been doing some stretches and exercises that seem to be helping along my recovery. Hopefully I'll be back in full swing before August. (It's officially a bad case of tendinitis.)

Writing News:

To Begin Again is now available on NOOK: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-begin-again-jen-knox/1030146397?itm=1&fmt=200&usri=jen%2bknox.

"The Code" (a story I've been reworking for some time) was picked up, and it won the Global Short Story Competition for May. Read it here:http://www.globalshortstories.net/maywinners2011.pdf

Thanks for hanging in there with me! I'm still writing, just v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.

Writing is like....

[This is a blog chain. It's the first one I've done, and I'm doing it only because my good friend Maria Savva asked me to. Well that, and, I was very curious to read her piece, which is here. And her piece was inspired by Jason McIntyre's original post, which is here.]

So, what is writing like to me? First thoughts...

the first meal when you get out of jail or the hospital or the mental institution. Writing is a wholly rounded meal, not necessarily what you want. It's lean chicken or tofu, broccoli with light spice and no butter, a thin slice of rye or sourdough bread, a 4oz glass of dry red wine and a few small, soft chocolate chip cookies or a scoop of your favorite ice cream. It is served on dark, square plates and in a crystal glass. It is nutritious and filling, even though it wasn't your first choice. If you eat everything though--if you don't try to give your plate away before eating the broccoli, for instance--you will have refueled and had, at last, that experience that you always knew a meal should be. You will feel the energy the way you are supposed to; you will be invigorated and stronger because you've been eating too much white bread and Jell-O and cream of wheat, and whatever else is preservative-heavy and bland that the confining places serve you. Now, you eat as though your meal is not only your last but your only, the only one you'll ever need. And the bitter, sweet, pungent, full, salty tang of the whole of it fills you in a way you have forgotten possible.

And, if you write again, you will feel this way again. And it will again feel as though you were just released and are only now enjoying the fullness of a meal for the very fist time.

Don't get me wrong, I love Cream of Wheat, but writing is not like Cream of Wheat. No matter what.

If they have time, I invite Marta Moran Bishop (http://wethreenews.blogspot.com) and Stuart Ross McCallum (http://www.beyondmycontrol.net) to take this to their blogs or websites or Facebook statuses... Or to post here. Writing is like...

New Image

This is the second in the series that I will be writing to. The first response was fully developed after an invitation to The Language and Place on the Edge Blog Carnival. (You can see the original image and poem below.) My father, the creator of this piece, sent me a few more images.

If this image inspires you, please, feel free to join me. If you can come up with something under 500 words, I'll post it here on 08/01. The image seems to lend itself to poetry. We'll see...

Image by Mark R. Knox 2011

http://www.knoxworx.com

Do Other Things

Artists don't wait for approval, and they don't wait for anyone else to tell them that they're good. But they do have to wait until they think work is ready. They are true to the voice (that elusive thing!), and they make that voice as strong as possible through hard work and constant reevaluation.

There. That's my art-centered, self-improvement rant. And, to be completely honest, it's a mantra as well as a statement. I've had a little trouble getting new work down lately. The reason is, paradoxically, because I've been getting more acceptances of my work lately. You'd think confidence would improve, right? Oddly, the opposite is happening. I'm feeling a heightened pressure each time I put a work out there for consideration. I'm rereading my old work and wondering why my current work feels so comparatively inadequate. Granted, when that old work was current, it too felt inadequate.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm having a little bout of block. I've been spending most of my time copy editing, which I actually love to do. It feels like exercise, and better, it pays. Also, I've spent a lot of computer time preparing a syllabus for a summer course that I'm hoping will make (we adjuncts never know) and outlines for a few appearances I'll be doing in SA (more soon). And yes, I have been writing. But the writing has been slow-going, and I suspect that the reason for this is that I'm putting too much pressure on myself to ride the publication wave. It's the same problem I had when I was just beginning to write--the whole write to publish mentality--when by now I should know that to write is to take the first in a long series of steps. Write, ruminate, revise, do other things, revise with distance, cut all unnecessary words, do other things, reread, then think about publication.

I'll get over it, I know. Writing is, after all, about ups and downs. If I'm down, there's only one direction to go. In the meantime, I'm going to try and have some fun this Memorial Day weekend. I'm not drinking like, it seems, the rest of the world will be. But, I will be partying, in air conditioning (San Antonio just hit 110 on the heat index -- and it's still May!!!). I'm not saying I'm taking a break from writing. There's no such thing. But I am definitely in the "do other things" part of the cycle with much of my existing work. No matter how much we writers perfect routines, the very nature of this work doesn't allow for too much conformity. This is an easy thing to forget.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend Everyone!!!   To doing other things!!!

Born from Rejection

Late last week, I got word that To Begin Again won the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Short Stories. This is beautiful news, but let me tell you, I'm not here to pat myself on the back! I am humbled, and though I can't make the awards ceremony in New York, I will be there in spirit, imagining what it would be like to accept a physical award for a creative work.

I remember the awards ceremonies I ued to attend for running races, how it felt, walking up to receive a medal for completing a five mile race. I tended to win in my category (for me, it was easy because I was usually the youngest in the race, collecting the 10 & under awards with routine smiles and winks). It was a nice feeling but one that proved a bit underwhelming and always made me think of the next race. Even as a child I knew that awards were a pat on the back, a pat that would be nice but would not carry me to the next race. After shelving the award, it was back to training. 

In this case, I have to say, it is not underwhelming, it's simply nice. Let me just say, the stories in this collection are all dear to me. Some of them were published in literary journals, such as Annalemma Magazine and Foundling Review prior to the publication of this book, others were not. Many of the stories were rejected many times. But, for the record, I've taken any rejections, digested them, and aimed toward learning from them. In an odd way, I'm thankful for those rejections because without them, who knows, many of the stories in the collection might not have been nearly as strong.

So, as I accept my award in my solitude, on my blog, I want to express my appreciation for both the honor and recognition but also for those who were keen and honest enough to tell me I might want to revisit a story or two in the collection while they were still in the process of being molded. It is the urgings of some generous editors as well as exhaustive revision that makes a collection of short creative works. I do hope that you'll consider reading the collection as we indie authors struggle to be read. We don't have the corporate backing of the big houses, but we have no less interest or drive to share our art. If you read it, please, let me know what you think. It is my goal and plan to make the next book (the problem novel-in-progress (anything this problematic will either be great or trashed in a few years)) stronger than anything else I've written. In the meantime, you'll get a glimpse of the character in this book (see Wallace). 

So, I appreciate the pat on the back, and I will strive to keep moving forward and not, as a good friend advised, rest on my laurels. I have writing to do. :)

     

A Time to Heal

I tore a tendon (I think) in my wrist a month or so ago, which made my work - writing, teaching online, grading, editing - incredibly difficult. I kept my hand as idle as possible for a while, which helped.

In the past few weeks, however, I've been on the computer even more than usual, trying to makeup work that was lost when my computer was stolen. I got a few gigs doing contract work, techincal writing, which will help pay bills (yay!) but also adds to my computer time. So in the midst of all this typing, my hand and wrist began to ache and swell again. I really think I need to stay off this hand and wrist altogether, but I refuse to stop writing in any capacity.

Illustration by Christopher J Shanahan



I'm doing my best to work left-handed, and this brings me to my reason for this post. Writing left-handed (my non-dominant hand) is tough, but I've been doing it. The strange thing is, the slowing down of the process is proving oddly beneficial. With the slowing comes frustration, sure, but also a more intentional, carefully-worded first draft when it comes to my creative work (which no torn tendon will keep me from).



This is the sort of thing that takes energy and dedication, not to mention time, but I suggest it as an exercise: try writing, or even typing, with you non-dominant hand. I recomend starting with something really short. But try it. It's a strangly beneficial exercise. There's science to support the fact that ambidexterity is benefical in that it stimulates both hemispheres of the brain, which makes a person more adaptable and better at sports (I could stand to have a little more coordination, believe me). Although the left hemisphere is responsible for language function, the right hemisphere is responsible for spatial abilities, music and visual imagery (yes, I minored in psychology): all functions that can work to heighten the artistic output on the page.

We'll see how this goes... If you try it, let me know how it works for you.



Coming Back

Oh boy! Things get messy when your computer is stolen. This past week, I've felt like a chicken with her head and feet cut off, spinning around on my ass, trying to figure out which way to go and how to get there. Despite this feeling, however, I have finally begun to catch up with my work. I've been able to salvage most of my writing projects and have quickly recreated lesson plans to get through the last few weeks of the English courses I'm currently teaching. There's still a lot to do, but things are looking far more manageable.

So, now that I've been through this ordeal, I wanted to share with you a few things that have helped me to bounce back quicker from such a loss of information:

1. Dropbox - This is an excellent service, especially for writers, to back up work in a way that is secure. Dropbox saves your writing to the cloud, which means even if you lose your computer and your drives, you still have a saved version of your writing accessible on the web. A Twitter friend of mine suggested it, and to him: Thank you!

2. Rewriting - There are times when I just need to rewrite and never do. I've known this for some time, but it can be a difficult step to take unless forced. Rather than revising a thing to death, which seems easier, sometimes a piece just need to be started over, with new energy and new resolve. Of course, I was forced to do this. I had a really short story that I had been reworking for a few months, and on one of the nights I couldn't sleep over the past week, I decided to just rewrite the thing, and guess what? The kinks came out in an organic sort of way I doubt they ever would have if I found the piece and continued to tinker at it.

3. Appreciation - There's nothing like catastrophe, even a minor one like getting robbed, to remind me how valuable it is to write through the hard stuff. Writing is always there for me, and again it has served as a way that seems far more therapeutic than any counseling I could undergo. The strongest writing comes from a push of emotion, and whether or not this writing is shared, it remains my foundation, my grounding.

The beauty of being a writer is that nothing can stop us from doing what we do. Writers are resilient that way.

Short Story America

I was planning to write a lengthy post about some genius thought I was having last week (I can't for the life of me remember what it was), but I was robbed on Tuesday. I was gone an hour, came back and all electronics were gone, along with my wedding ring (which I had left off because I had been exercising... my students gave me a hard time about that one) and my grandmother's jade ring, which wouldn't earn ten bucks at a pawn shop but meant quite a bit to me.

What's right up there with the jade ring loss is the fact that I lost my computer, and any notes of genius are now in a pawn shop somewhere being stripped down and disposed of. Who knows, maybe my computer will turn up?

What's funny about life is the strange ways it balances out. Writing-wise, things are looking up. I got a confirmation that my piece in Narrative Magazine will be appearing in the fall. A short piece of fiction I wrote a while back, which appears in TO BEGIN AGAIN, "Disengaged", is being featured in an anthology by Short Story America, which is now available here. http://shortstoryamerica.com/

(It's my first hardcover, and I'm pretty excited about it.)

Also, To Begin Again, my new collection of short stories, recieved a lovely review from Feathered Quill Book Reviewers: http://www.featheredquill.com/shortstory.shtml

As Chris and I robber-proof our apartment over the next week and I attempt to catch up on writing, I will also attempt to rewrite the post I began for this weekend's blog. In the meantime, if you're like me and you live in an apartment complex where yout think no one would be stupid enough to rob you, think again. Renter's insurance is cheap, and I sure wish I would've had it on Tuesday.