Famous? No. Rich. Definitely not. Established? Check. If you’ve been writing a while, been around the block, had a few titles published under your byline, you get to the point where putting sentences together become, well, while I won’t say easy, I would say tolerable. Writing the blamed story isn’t your biggest challenge. You can … More The two biggest challenges for an established writer
It’s amazing how much of my life is motivated by guilt. When I’m not writing, I feel guilty for not doing so. Then when I start writing, I usually get obsessive about it, and I neglect something else, like getting ready for classes, which start here in four weeks, which makes me feel guilty again. … More Still Alive. Still Kicking. Still Writing.
When last we left our plucky hero (me), we were finishing up chapter 11 (not the bankruptcy kind) of Tesla’s Ghost and looking forward to making hay while the sun didn’t shine. Alas, don’t you hate it when real life gets in the way of art? So here’s what happened: I was really productive the … More I’m Burning Daylight
I am the faculty sponsor of the Rough Writers, the student creative writing club here at Southwestern Adventist University. We’re pretty open and loose about what people can bring to the group to be critiqued, and inevitably there is at least one or two writers in the group whose favorite genre is fantasy. Many would-be … More When Nonfiction Becomes Fiction…and Vice Versa
Summer. Ah, yes, I remember it well. Seems like only yesterday. But hmm, well, summer’s gone, and school starts, well I guess it’s officially started. Classes start Monday and we welcomed freshmen to the campus last night. So just like all those good intentions I will have on my deathbed, whatever I planned for the … More Stranger Things Have Happened
“Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.” -Yogi Berra Football season is almost upon us, and I am fondly watching my own Oakland Raiders getting into training camp and getting ready for their first official game in September. This, I hope, will be the year that Oakland returns to the playoffs … More Bringing Back the Swagger
One of the websites I’ve gotten quite fond of is quora.com. It’s simply a forum where people can ask questions or go and answer other people’s questions. I get asked a lot of questions about writing there, and get to ask professionals questions that help me in the writing of my books. Yesterday someone asked … More Beyond the Big Picture
I’ve been asked what the hardest part of writing a novel is, and my answer tends to be directly related to how well my novel-building is going at the time. My dad used to have a saying: “Some days you eat the bear, and some days the bear eats you.” Some books come together quickly … More Brick By Brick
I was watching The Late Show with Stephen Colbert the other night when the actor Paul Dano was being interviewed. Stephen Colbert talked about how “intimate” his acting roles tend to be, and it got me thinking about writing (of course). Intimacy. Privacy. Vulnerability. It’s what we all resist sharing, and yet it’s what we … More The Yin and Yang of Storytelling
We’re on the other side of two monumental responsibilities of mine. (who-hoo!) The deadline for high schoolers to turn in their four-minute videos in the 48-hour film challenge at our University was 90 minutes ago. At the same time, the University website, the project that has obsessed me since Christmas, has been put to bed … More Idle Hands Are the Devil’s Workshop
