It’s a good news, bad news scenario. First the good news. I finally am making time for writing–my writing, the stuff that ruminates in the back of my mind when I am busy doing other stuff here at the University. When I am writing articles for Southwestern Spirit magazine, playing webmaster, teaching classes or sitting … More Over the Hump
I spent a little time on Twitter this morning. My Reporting class is involved in an in-class writing exercise, which gives me time to play. Once again, as I surf through Twitter, I am amazed and floored at the thousands and thousands of would-be writers all saying the same things and dreaming the same dreams. … More Really, It’s Not the Lottery. Or Is It?
I was surprised recently to read that of all the writing genres, Fantasy required the most structure. But as I thought about it, it makes sense. You are asking the reader to suspend disbelief, but in order to do that, you have to establish rules for your own created universe, and then stick by them. … More World Building
This has been the summer for dealing with ancillary stuff. As always, my primary goal in the summer is to get some writing done. I have two–make that three–writing projects I am still hoping to work on this summer. But other obligations always seem to get in the way. I have to start off by … More Another delay? It’s all good.
When my two kids were in high school, I used to get amused by how they went about doing their homework. My daughter, specifically, would turn on the TV, have earbuds in with her favorite music, have friends calling her on her phone, and have one or possibly two textbooks open. I was amazed that … More Ambient Noise for Ambient Boys
Well, May is gone, and June is proceeding along faster than I would like. What that does is prompt me to get done the things that I have planned, yet haven’t so far. I have learned that I can’t get writing work done at home, at least these days. Too many distractions, I guess. Even … More Junk in the Attic
Statistically speaking, I doubt there are more than a thousand or two successful full-time writers out there in the U.S. I heard a statistic once upon a time a long, long time ago that there were only a few hundred. But a lot of that depends on what one considers “successful,” I would guess. From … More Mind Games 7: The Writer’s Jekyll and Hyde
Maybe the title is a little bit misleading. Maybe not. I am one of those people who love–absolutely love–the creative process of writing. I enjoy the ability to create characters and even worlds that did not exist before I created them. I love spending time with these characters during the writing process. And I am … More Bad Medicine
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
The Great Adventure 