Writing stories is a funny business. Editing and evaluating them is too. It’s not simply a matter of dealing with what’s in front of you. You have to read people’s minds in many cases. I spent ten years as a book and magazine editor, and I got pretty good at evaluating manuscripts. And I knew … More Don’t Shoot the Messenger
The big sign on the wall which read: “Ten Minutes to Midnight” was more symbolic than real. Across the dance floor, on the opposite wall, hung a giant digital clock. As Adam watched, the clock ticked down in seconds and minutes, right now showing 22 minutes left until it reached zero. Four flat-screened television sets … More “Ten Minutes to Midnight”
This is the second year that the Rough Writers and I have followed our tradition—that’s the one where I take everyone to Sonic at our last meeting of the school year and treat everyone to root beer floats. I say root beer, but we’ve never been a group for homogeneity, and so I suspect some … More Bittersweet Chocolate
Years ago and miles away, I was a public relations assistant at a hospital in Illinois. One of my friends was a development director named Frank Vessels. I was a square peg in a round hole, as I have mentioned in earlier posts, basically a would-be author that worked a day job to feed his … More The Transparent Author
The following is a new short story that I intend to turn into part of my project Pilgrim’s Progress novel this summer. Enjoy. The sun baked our brown, supple bikinied bodies, and we reveled in it. Four of us—Marcie, Kimmy, Infinity and me, Ellie—were on permanent spring break. School was out, and we had no … More “The Stranger”
Years ago I remember reading an article in Writer’s Digest encouraging writers to find places to sell second rights to their articles and stories. And thirds. And fourths. The whole point was to get as much mileage out of your hard-earned words as you can. I’ve kind of lost sight of that advice. But going … More Recycling…or repurposing?
The last blog I wrote talked about my goals for the summer. One of the big ones is writing my first screenplay. This is in anticipation of teaching a class this fall entitled “Drama Writing.” I figured that I would start by reading one of my textbooks and visualizing how I would write my chosen … More This Just In: I’m a Chicken
Just a quick blog today. I just completed writing my last final exam for this school year. That doesn’t mean all of my work for the semester is over with. I still have lectures to give, presentations to evaluate, lots of grading to do. What it does signify is another step toward freeing up my … More Rolling Toward the Finish Line
Maybe it’s because 2012 is the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar. But I have certainly seen a lot of apocalyptic stories being circulated out there. Of course, it all depends on how you define “apocalypse.” Most of those these days have to do with zombies (and defining that is another issue, … More What I’ve Learned from the Apocalypse
The following is a short story I recently wrote in anticipation of a screenplay I am working on this summer. Enjoy. “Never Say Die” The ballroom at the Top of the Mark was filled with the romantic sound of Artie Shaw and his big band playing “Begin the Beguine.” It was pretty busy for a … More “Confronting a Monster”
The Great Adventure 