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 […]
Writing Is Not That Easy
When a story breaks about someone on YouTube earning a lot of money from making videos, it’s almost inevitable: someone’s going to say, “I’m gonna start making YouTube videos and making millions…” It’s usually said in such a manner that the person saying it is offended someone who gives a large part of their lives […]
The Sign Beneath the Door
In movies, roommates leave a bevvy of items on doorknobs to tell their roommate, “Hey, I have things going on in here, and I would appreciate it if you found another place to crash tonight…” I consider myself fortunate that the one roommate I had after high school was more likely to say, “Hey, I’m […]
Sixth Annual Writing Retreat
The sixth annual writing retreat is booked. Last year’s retreat was at Daingerfield State Park…and this year’s retreat will be there as well. After my day job getting the better of me last year, I look forward to keeping the momentum of 2018 going through the spring. And having the retreat lined up is a […]
Changes Along the Way
Recently, I wrote an entry about what it takes for me to be productive. (Quick version: Don’t do so damn much, say no to things, and stop distracting yourself with things that pull you away from writing.) In many ways, that’s what I did when I started writing (head down; write all the time), but […]
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