The first thing I ever wrote for submission was a comic book story for an anthology. (It was also the first thing I wrote that was accepted.) I met my wife in 1992 when we were both working for the same independent comic book company. Most of the people I hung out with at the […]
Top 10 Writing Posts of 2009
I started The Juggling Writer in September, so I only have a few months of blog posts to pull from. Here are my 10 favorite posts of 2009: 10. The Gift of Reading: One of the best gifts an adult can give a child is a love of reading. Here are 10 reasons why. 9. […]
Sherlock Holmes
My wife and I saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie today. We loved it! I haven’t read all of the Sherlock Holmes stories and novels like my wife has, but I’ve read enough to have cringed when the movie was first announced. Guy Ritchie? I thought. Oh, sure, the boxing scenes he directed in Snatch […]
Backing it Up
Yesterday, I wrote about how a layoff can be good for a part time writer. I said I would show readers that I follow my own advice. Here it is… Seven years ago I was laid off. I didn’t mope or panic about my situation; instead, I pitched a local travel article to the Dallas […]
2010
Hopefully you’ve been thinking about 2010 and your writing plans. If you haven’t, there’s still time in 2009 to give it some thought. Call it a resolution — call it a plan, but it’s important to look at next year and decide what you’ll make happen with your writing. * * * I could come […]
The Gift of Books
Yesterday, I wrote about giving the gift of reading. In yesterday’s blog entry, I wrote about how my mom is one of the people who made me love reading. We had a very rare white Christmas in north Texas. (I haven’t seen a white Christmas in 25 years, when I used to live north of […]
The Gift of Reading
Some of my fondest memories are of my mom reading Carl Sandburg’s Rootabaga Stories to me when I was a kid. My sister read…a lot! It’s natural for a younger sibling to do what an older sibling does, so I became a reader, too. One of my favorite Christmas gifts ever was when my dad […]
Giving Thanks
It’s Thanksgiving in the states. I think about things I’m thankful for quite a bit (because I’m a big sap like that), but I don’t think I’ve ever made a list off the top of my head of the things I’m thankful for when it comes to writing. So here goes: I’m thankful for my […]
The Patience of an Oyster
A good friend used to manage a music store. A regular customer was looking for a second job and applied for a position at the store. On the application, where one could list various skills and traits, this person wrote this and nothing more: “I have the patience of an oyster.” I’ve been told that […]
The Sunday Night Ache
Sunday nights get to me. I love having a weekend to see the people I love, and I love having a weekend to write! Sunday night signals a return to the 5/7ths of the week I have to work. When it comes to jobs, I have a good one. I’ve turned down offers making almost […]
Looking Back
There are times I look back on my writing progress in recent years and feel like I haven’t done enough. I can come up with excuses; some of them are even valid: I spent a couple years caring for my big sister before she died from cancer in 2003. I’ve spent most of my recent […]
Odd Jobs Help Writing
You probably spend the day working someplace where you wouldn’t be if you made a living writing full time. I’ve worked at my current job (editing and formatting airplane manuals) for almost five years. I like my job as much as I can like a day job. It’s the longest job I’ve ever held, but […]
The Best Thing About Halloween
My wife knew my writing before she knew me. She was an artist working for a small independent comic book publisher in 1992. I was writing for the company. She read a couple scripts I wrote that were being developed, and she loved my writing. Being the spouse of a writer can be a very […]