It’s not uncommon for me to chat with other writers and have the conversation steer toward this question: What do you listen to when you write? Even some writers I didn’t expect to lose themselves in the question have a playlist on hand — sometimes with a link to Spotify. (Leaving me to wonder if […]
Year Nine
Today, this little blog turns nine years old. In that time, I’ve been laid off from a long-term job that shut down most of a department. I freelanced with an airline in Guam and edited maintenance work cards for a major airline. I worked at a massive bank during the mortgage crisis, and have had […]
In the Middle of the Night
I usually get 7 – 8 hours of sleep each night. But sometimes, usually near the end of a big writing project, my normal schedule falls away and I find myself filling gaps of time by writing. This means sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and write. A [Not So] Good […]
A Later Start
I listened to a great interview with Robert Goolrick yesterday. His road to publication was, like many, a bit rocky. A Well Worn Path Earlier in his life, he had a close call — something he was so sure of, he packed up his life and moved to Greece to wait for his contract and […]
August Progress
I’ve never been one to track my progress when it comes to writing. Generally, I try writing more days than not (4 days a week), but I don’t even track that. If I really don’t feel like writing on a particular day, I don’t. But because I can see the end of a readable draft […]
A Busy September Can Still Be Silent
September will be a busy month for me. Something fairly big at work is due in the middle of the month, and the current novel should be readable by the end of September. So…it’s a good time to go silent online. The September Silence I’ve not taken a September away from social media the past […]
My Hero Was a Tiny Badass Mightier than Oceans
I was a 21 year-old punk when I met Cuyler Etheredge. I enrolled in the only creative writing class I ever took, and Cuyler was the instructor. At that time, I’d written the first thing I ever wrote with the goal of publication: a 12-page comic book story (horror) that would go on to be […]
The Online Knot
I’ve never taken a social media break like the time I took the 101 day social media break. Hell, I’ve not done a full “September Silence” in a couple years… I’ve thought about doing both in recent days, but something makes it harder each passing year: connectivity. Connections When people talk about the “real world” […]
The Ticking Passage of August
I’m still here. It’s been a busy time with work…and a busy time writing. (Also, it’s been remarkably rainy for August in Texas.) I cannot complain…especially about the rain and being busy writing. A Change in Schedule I normally wake up very early to write. I still wake up early, but I’ve not been writing […]
Remembering the Process
I’ve not felt like I’ve been writing well, lately. Words creep along with greater effort than usual, and what sees the page is not good. One recent morning, things finally clicked along again, but a major problem presented itself. (The kind of problem that means rewriting your rewrites.) It would be easy, in recent weeks, […]
Question Everything
Ideas are easy to come by if you don’t crowd your head with distractions. Ideas are even easier to come by if you question everything. The Slow Turn The other day while driving home from a store, a pickup truck in front of me made a very slow turn. It was ridiculously s…l…o…w. (I’ve been […]
My Most Hated Literary Rule
I would not say I am contradictory for the sake of itself, but if I don’t believe in a rule, it’s unlikely I will follow it. From a societal standpoint, the way I look at most things conforms with most social mores — so I am a law-abiding citizen. But if I didn’t generally believe […]
Looking Back on a Good 10 Days
It’s not that I don’t take time off from work, but it’s rare that I take full weeks off. Long weekends happen somewhat frequently, but in over 5 1/2 years where I work, most weeks off have been stacked around Thanksgiving. Taking last week off [I think] was the first time I’ve taken a week […]
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