Greetings! I began my writing career in 2015 following the death of my beloved mother. The lessons and world views she instilled during my life as I grew and developed maintain a strong thematic presence throughout much of what I write. Her emphasis on the importance of love, kindness, and concern for all is the primary influence behind my material focusing on occasionally uncomfortable topics like emotional vulnerability, abuse, and existentialism. It isn't all mopey, though - I do like to let the hair down and writing about the fun things in life. Like owning an adorable dog that has enormous, "I just saw a ghost" eyes, for instance. While I use this website predominantly for hosting poetry and/or thought pieces, my primary commercially-marketed project is a sci-fi/fantasy series of novels which I originally self-published. The first is titled Continuity and was published in 2016. A sequel, Continuity: Coalescence, was released two years later. I'm thankful to say both were recently picked up by a traditional publisher, Wild Ink Publishing that will be releasing one, consolidated version of both in December 2024. Announcements on this moving forward will also be posted here. As far as the rest, I'm an ex-Vanderbilt baseball player (c/o '09) with a degree in Economics & Corporate Strategy who is ironically trying to forging a career that has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with either of those things. Before my scribbles began, I was an insurance agent for the better part of a decade. Other than that, I enjoy simple living along with my aforementioned co-author, Pip the Pekingese! Thank you for visiting the website. I hope you enjoy your stay, and I look forward to connecting with any and all. No matter who you are or what you believe, you are warmly welcome! M.E. Shao
Love. Is there a better feeling? I think not. We all long for that warm, fuzzy sensation that we get from having someone reciprocate compassion and affection. Its a funny thing, love. It has countless definitions and interpretations. Its helped forge empires and destroy civilizations. Love and affection are what sets us apart from the … More A Friend’s Proposal
Let’s be honest – we all have a nerdy side to us. Whether it’s experiencing a new Star Wars movie at an IMAX theater or wreaking havoc in the latest GTA game, we all enjoy an occasional escape into the newest tech. This is all well and good, considering we live in an age where … More Pushing Boundaries: My Day at iCube
The following is the full response I received from Cortney Edmondson, the September 2016 featured Millennial for my monthly column at the local newspaper, The Wilson Post. Due to being constricted to a word limit, I use my blog as an outlet to post the full transcripts of my interviews. These transcripts contain a treasure … More Cortney Edmondson: Full Interview
The following is the full response I received from Julian Hayes, the October 2016 featured Millennial for my monthly column at the local newspaper, The Wilson Post. Due to being constricted to a word limit, I use my blog as an outlet to post the full transcripts of my interviews. These transcripts contain a treasure … More Julian Hayes: Full Interview
This is the full transcript of my interview with Ryan Hill. The article, which will be linked once it’s posted, is for my monthly column at The Wilson Post. The column is titled “Millennials Making a Difference”, and highlights individuals from the Wilson County area who are having a positive impact on their communities. How … More Ryan Hill: Full Interview
So this morning I spoke to a screenwriter about my story. In my quest to eventually have an adaptation created for viewers (since who reads evidently) these conversations, I hope, will happen more frequently in the near future. After today, though, I realize how much that even I don’t know about my own narrative. This … More Continuity – The Most Complex Simple Question I’ve Been Asked
The title of this post is one with which we’re all familiar. After all, that’s what life is about, right? We work, we grind, we sacrifice, and we compromise – all with the intention of reaching a point where we can sit back, relax, and say “it was all worth it.” But do we ever … More The Pursuit of Happiness
When I was a child, I never would have thought this way – but after studying economics and corporate strategy in college, I learned that (as odd it it might sound) there are actual methods of “quantifying” human beings. That’s right – legitimate methods exist which essentially break a person’s personality, monetary worth, and other … More MVCs – What is the Most Valuable Characteristic You Look For?
Mom, It’s been while since I’ve written to you in anything outside of my private journal. I know that if you were here, you would probably kill me for putting you in the public’s eye, but you deserve the credit. You deserve for people to know how important you were (and still are). You never … More To You, Mom
For anyone that reads my blog, you know that I write about this particular topic frequently. Despite this, I feel the need to elaborate further due to the nature of the presidential election that recently shocked the world. For once in the history of humanity’s short time on this planet, there is a mechanism more … More The Most Powerful Force in the World
How the World Should Work 