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Spring Break in Costa Rica

Steve Alvesteffer
May 19, 2026

For spring break this year, my wife and I decided to take our three kids (ages 16, 14, and 11) to Costa Rica. We had been kicking around the idea of visiting Costa Rica for several years, since reading about the Pearce family’s adventures in the country. Besides, I had never seen a rainforest before, so this was an opportunity to take a very different type of vacation.

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How to Write Flawed Characters

Steve Alvesteffer
April 14, 2026

The Negative Trait Thesaurus is a brainstorming resource that helps writers craft deeply human, memorable characters by exploring their dark sides. This fully indexed collection of negative traits equips writers to move beyond flat archetypes, offering actionable strategies to build layered, nuanced heroes and antagonists whose perfectly balanced strengths and weaknesses resonate with readers.

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How to Craft Emotion in Your Characters

Why AI Means More Work, Not Less

The Final Fortune (Flash Fiction)

PeoplePing, a Social Interaction Manager App

The Art of the Solo RPG

The Forgotten Heroes of Baseball

Your Life as an Experiment

Generating Fantasy Names by Rolling Dice

A Simple Rules Change for Faster Dungeons & Dragons Sessions

Last Year’s Top Baseball Prospects

Why Do You Collect What You Collect?

The All-Topps Era Baseball Mega All-Star Team

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