Marcus Lopés

LGTBQIA2S+ Author, Blogger, Runner

relentless writer

How Running Changed My Life

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running

When I stepped into those jeans—a size 38 waist—I was horrified that they fit. The other times my then partner tried to hand them down to me they were too big. Now I was shocked into action. I had to do something, but there was just one itsy-bitsy problem. Too self-conscious about my own body, the odds of me joining a gym were a million to one. I never had a six-pack or anything close to it. I did everything to avoid changing in public locker rooms. Take my shirt off? Pfft. But I had to lose weight, so I did the only thing that seemed ‘doable’: I started running. [Read more…] about How Running Changed My Life

Reality Check

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reality check

Time for a reality check.

When I was a kid, I really had know idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. At six, I started piano lessons and thought briefly about a music career. But back then I never had the discipline required to become a professional musician. Besides (and if you’ve been following me for a while you’ve heard this before), my mother was against the idea of her son going into an industry filled with “alcoholics and drug addicts” (her words, not mine). And because my parents never had the opportunity, my sister and I were encouraged to go to university, which we did, and obtained our degrees.

Graduating from university didn’t solve my dilemma. I left there even more confused and without a solid plan for the future. What was I going to do with a degree in French Literature when I didn’t want to teach? Studying French literature—and authors like Jean-Paul Sartre, George Sand, André Gide, and others—sparked my interest in writing. If I hadn’t gone that route, I probably wouldn’t be a writer today. [Read more…] about Reality Check

Know When to Walk Away

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walk away

You don’t have to be a country music fan to know some of the lyrics to one of Kenny Rogers’s hit songs, “The Gambler.” And for a while, the chorus to that song has played on repeat in my head: “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away, know when to run.” And walking away isn’t always easy. It can be downright freakin’ hard. But if you can walk away, it can change your life. [Read more…] about Know When to Walk Away

Social Media: A Love-Hate Relationship

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social media

Just over three months ago, I stepped back from social media. I’d left Twitter before that, but realized I needed a cleaner break. I didn’t just deactivate my active accounts. Where I could (Instagram and LinkedIn; I’ll get to Facebook), I deleted them. And when it came to Instagram, I was even more intentional. I deleted every post, removed every follower, and unfollowed everyone I’d been following. Because I knew I would eventually return to social media, but I didn’t want to just pick up where I left off. I wanted to start over with a new approach.

When it came to Facebook, I opted to deactivate my fan page. The problem with that was that it had to remain active if I still wanted to use Facebook Ads, which I did. My only option then was to go radio silent. [Read more…] about Social Media: A Love-Hate Relationship

Make Time to Create

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make time to create

I don’t remember the exact year, or the precise moment, when I knew I wanted to be a writer. It was, however, during university when I started spending more time on creative writing than my studies. Case in point: I signed up for a writing class at the local community college despite carrying a full course load. Although I didn’t know it then, it would set an important precedent for my life: make time to create. [Read more…] about Make Time to Create