I have been very remiss in my blogging. That’s primarily because: A) I’ve had precious little I felt worth sharing; B) I’ve been spending considerable amounts of my free time working on the new novel; and C) I’ve gone through a rather difficult period of self-doubt and disappointment. Dealing with C first: all writers go…
I saw a recent post on Reddit that piqued my interest, so decided to undertake what the poster was requesting. Too late to do them any good, but hey, them’s the breaks. I’ve begun work in earnest on a new novel, so I’ve decided to document the process from start to finish. Less of a…
It’s as inevitable as my cup of coffee in the morning. At some point while talking with someone, the topic of what time we get to work comes up. Then what time we wake up. Then I tell them I get up at 3:30 and the eyes boggle, the mouth drops open, and they look…
There is a reality in the world of science and technology known as a feedback loop. This is that incredibly annoying screech from a microphone when someone first starts talking into it, before they turn their volume down. It’s painful, but it has a very simple cause and effect. You speak… your words flood out…
When I was in high school, there were three types of music I loved most. Alt rock was my mainstay, led by bands like U2 and REM. New Wave was a close second, with DEVO and Flock of Seagulls high on my list. And then there was punk. Henry Rollins, the Ramones, anything that was…
Becoming a writer has been easy. Seriously, don’t let anyone feed you these long, sad, sob stories about how they tried and strained and sweated and cried for years and years about becoming a writer. Writing is as simple as sitting down… and writing. That’s literally it. No further consideration! Simple! Any moron with a…
I feel like I’m overdue on keeping up with my reviews. I read a lot these days, and get a good two hours of audiobook time in during my commutes each day, which adds up to a lot of books devoured each month. Last month, I listened to Connie Willis’ latest novel, Crosstalk, during my…
I’ve long had a problem with finishing my stories. Whether short stories or novels, I start out white hot, stumble into mediocrity, and eventually move on to something else that excites me. I think I’ve mostly overcome that now with concerted effort and setting my word goals last year. But it still rears it’s head…
The differences between working on my first novel (the still unpublished and seemingly never to be published Shadow Of A Doubt) and my latest work in progress (Summer) continue through the editing process. I think it’s intriguing to note how much things have changed. When I finished SOAD, it was a hot freaking mess. It…
It topped out at 135,000 words. But on Saturday morning I wrote the final words of my latest WIP, the novel Summer, and put it to rest. It’s cooling its heels in a folder on my drive now, and I will do my best not to revisit it until the holidays are over and 2017…