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”
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
As I have mentioned here many times before, I’m teaching a Narrative Writing class this semester that is presently winding down. In addition to requiring students to write the first 50 pages of a novel as well as the outline, they will have an essay final. One of the questions on the final I have … More Can you believe it?
I am teaching a class called Drama Writing this fall, and once again it will be a first for me. I will be teaching both stage writing and screenwriting in that class. Today I had the opportunity to read through the introduction of my textbook for stage writing. The author tells of a rejection slip … More Compelling Evidence
I’ve always been a square peg in a round hole. When I was in elementary school and high school, I was one of the outsiders. (Of course, I have learned since then that pretty much everyone considers themselves an outsider when it comes to high school.) I had creative tendencies back then, but being a … More Underground Novelist
A year ago or so I read a book series entitled Coyote, which was a retelling of the Mayflower story in science fiction terms. Some political dissidents steal a space ship intended to start a colony on a distant planet and start their own colony. The story develops from there in many different, interesting ways. … More Novels that Are Short Stories
About two decades ago, I was a book editor at Pacific Press Publishing Association in Boise, Idaho. One of the books that came through for my consideration was a manuscript from my friend Clifford Goldstein entitled “Best Seller.” In it, he tells of his desire to become a world-famous novelist and how he struggled for … More Sacrifice, Surrender and Commitment: A Christian Writer’s Dilemma
One of the first exercises I had the students in my Narrative Writing class do this semester is write about their greatest fear. It was hard; I know, because I did it myself. And I will have to admit that I cheated somewhat. I told the class three things I was afraid of, but the … More Life Outside the Comfort Zone
Yesterday was my first time teaching my new Narrative Writing class. I’m a communication professor, and it’s an English class, so it seems a bit odd. But the English department is excited, I’m excited, and I hope my students will be excited too. Actually, the feeling I got from them yesterday morning was one of … More To be totally honest….
Yesterday I finally got up the courage to publicly announce that I was going the self-publishing route. I gave several reasons for my irrationality. Then after I finished my blog, I thought of some more. Here’s a specific one that comes to mind. Publishers tend to be married to specific audiences. They produce magazines and … More The Island of Misfit Authors
The Great Adventure 