“The first draft of anything is shit.” –Ernest Hemingway I’m nearing the completion of the first draft of my first chapter on my latest book. And the more I write on it, the more unhappy I am with it. One of my father’s sayings was: “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s … More Ugly Baby
This morning I read through the last few chapters of my latest book project. What at one time was a pipe dream, then a half-cocked dream, then a cobbled-together concept, then an ugly step-child is now almost ready to meet the world. Funny how that works. Sometimes it doesn’t, but boy, when it does, I … More The Miracle of Creation
I’m sitting here in my easy chair, nursing my wounds after a tree got back at me yesterday for cutting off one of its branches. I thought I had positioned myself safely, but when the branch broke free, it smacked me square in the face and broke my nose. I ended up going into the … More A Little Cake, A Little Humble Pie
Writing is a solitary pastime, or so I’ve been told. You spend a lot of time staring at either a blank page or a blinking cursor, wishing words onto a page. “Writing is easy,” said journalist Red Smith in 1949. “All you do is open a vein and bleed.” From my experience, writing can be … More Why You Should Never Write Alone
After a year of not writing, I am back in front of the keyboard, working on book #26. I use the term working loosely for two reasons. First, because like most writers, I am finding every excuse in the book to procrastinate and do everything else but write. I tolerate that to a certain degree … More Shaking off the Cobwebs
Don’t get me wrong. I believe National Novel Writing Month–lovingly referred to as NaNoWriMo by the tens of thousands of its participants–is a great thing. I have participated seven times and have completed writing the required 50,000-word novel during the month of November five of those times. In fact, the first time I participated, I … More Why I Won’t Be at #NaNoWriMo This Year
I write a lot of books. And many of those are indie published. And indie books don’t have the best reputation when it comes to editing. So I try to do a lot of research on my books. The book I just finished–Never Say Die–involved a lot (a lot) of historical research having to do … More Hey, I’m not perfect. (But I try to be.)
I am at the last scene of my major book project, Never Say Die, that I have been writing for six months and planning for several years. I am thirty-two chapters and 350 pages in, and now the responsibility comes to wrap up the story in a big bright bow and come up with a … More This is the end…wait…THIS is the end.
I am determined to be a part of NaNoWriMo this year. For those of you who don’t know, that’s National Novel Writing Month, where each November crazy people like me attempt to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. I’ve done it three times, and have three books to share because of it. But there … More Tom Horn Rides Again
I’ll be the first to admit that I still have a lot to learn when it comes to the rewriting process. I read other authors who talk about writing an entire book manuscript, then letting it sit, then coming back, tearing it up and starting over again. I have come to the conclusion that I … More It Is What It Is
The Great Adventure 