Psychologically, routines are comfort food. They are there when other things are not. They are what we go to when we don’t know what else to do. Naturally, developing a routine in anything–be it writing or exercise or reading or needlepoint–is important to us as humans.
Inspiration: noun \ˌin(t)-spə-ˈrā-shən, -(ˌ)spi-\ A divine influence or action on a person believed to qualify him or her to receive and communicate sacred revelation. (Merriam-Webster) Inspiration. That divine breath of literary genius given to us as sacred revelations wherein we all ascend from poor writer to rich author. Or maybe it’s just the crap that…
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I sat and stared at holes in my wall one day before I started writing this. I’m pleased with how everything flowed together. In 2021, this story won in the Adult Category for the All Pikes Peak Writes annual competition, sponsored by the Pikes Peak Library District.
Personalized fiction. Hmm. I think most authors have heard the adage “write what you know,” but how many really apply that to themselves if they’re not writing a memoir? I decided long ago to just “write what I know,” and if I don’t know something, then it’s time to be educated. Sketches from the Spanish…
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When I was wee lad (well, thirty-something), I had this idea I would be the next great horror writer. I did all things horror: wrote short stories, worked on novels, edited a horror magazine, read works by other horror authors, attempted to buy my way into horror conventions, collected horror action figures (they’re not dolls!),…
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Theme. In contemporary literary studies, a theme is the central topic, subject, or concept the author is trying to point out, not to be confused with whatever message, moral, or commentary it may send or be interpreted as sending regarding said concept (i.e., its inferred “thesis”). Blah, blah, blah. When I wrote my first few…
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I wrote a version of this piece back in 2012, when I first began painting. The original idea was not only to chronicle a piece of work, but tie it to a larger theme… that is, creation is often blind to outcome. I didn’t quite get to the second part in my first attempt, so…
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I have been looking through various works-in-progress, those novels that–for whatever reason–were abandoned on the side of the road while the mind went looking for a gas station down the street. One of them, Driving the Spike, made me think of two of my favorite reads: Stephen Crane and Japanese Death Poems, as presented in a…
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In the world of art (and I’m speaking specifically of painting), the word pentimento (derived from the Italian pentirsi, which means to repent or change your mind) is a change made by the artist during the process of painting. As a painter, I’ve done this many times, although the discovering of the change or changes…
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A book takes times, does it not? On September 23, 2013, Difficult Mirrors was released for consumption (and hopefully joy). That the book took a while to write is not a secret I keep. Journeys are not always quick nor do they always take a straight route. It even had a different name for nearly…
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Transit Novels
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