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 […]
The Radiant Orb That Makes Life Miserable
I try not to use The Juggling Writer to complain about things. Sure, I talk about work sometimes cutting in line before writing and other things like that, but…it is a blog about all the things in life competing for time with writing. But I’m going to complain in this entry. Hell, I might even […]
The Sixth Annual Writing Retreat
This is how it all played out: we had the writing retreat initially scheduled for April 1 – 3. It was canceled because of a minor medical emergency that could have become major hit my friend, Deacon. A thing you must know about Deacon: after a layoff from his last corporate job, he decided to […]
Quick Updates
A few things going on, lately… HEAR Now Festival A story I wrote was accepted as an official listening selection for the The HEAR Now Audio Fiction and Arts Festival. A bit more about that over on the Not About Lumberjacks blog. Writing Retreat I wrote about the writing retreat that was planned for early […]
On Repeated Success (With Creative Endeavors)
I did not come pre-package with musical aptitude. In fifth grade, I joined my elementary school’s orchestra. I played violin. I practiced more than most classmates and was understanding things enough that I wanted to learn how to tune my violin. The orchestra teacher said, “No!” Not just a soft “no,” but a stern “No!” […]
Finding the Perfect Path
I’ve mentioned Jack Cheng’s “Sunday” letter newsletter here before. This week, Cheng wrote about plot. In the piece, Cheng shares a couple great quotes from George Saunders. This is the one that stuck with me (and, apparently, Cheng): I don’t get plot. I don’t understand it, I don’t like it, whenever I try to come […]
Rescheduling the Retreat
A wee medical thing with the friend who takes part in the annual writing retreat means we’re going to have to reschedule. I still plan to take Monday and Tuesday off to write, though. And then sometime later this spring, summer, or maybe even autumn…it will be off to East Texas for the sixth annual […]
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