Wiki See and Wiki Do

It’s already been a whirlwind of a start to the year. I’ve managed to finish one new short story, FISHING OVER THE BONES OF THE DRAGON, which is about the loss of innocence, growing old, the reticence of men to speak to their emotions, father/son relationships, and, well… some fishing stuff, too. I quite like…

4th Saturday (8/2018)

I’m going to try to do a catchall writing post on the 4th weekend of every month. Technically I’m a day early, but now that it’s in my head I wanted to get it started. A way of keeping track of what I’ve done each month. August, 2018, has been fantastic. We started it off…

The Doldrums

The doldrums is an old nautical term for an area of the ocean where the breezes don’t blow as steadily or regularly, and storms can spring up unexpectedly. When you get there, you get stuck. It’s unpredictable, and thus sailors would prefer to avoid such areas. Doldrums has also come to mean a periodic downturn…

Rejection

There are lots of different kinds of rejection letters you can receive as an author. The most common is the very impersonal form letter. The form letter always thanks you for your submission, then quickly proceeds to inform you that your story or novel “was not right for them at this time.” Fair enough. Is…

Paradise Found

There are many great things about being a writer. Inventing whole new worlds out of my imagination. Doing something that brings me massive amounts of pleasure. Learning how to hone and perfect my skills. Sharing thoughts with other writers. Going to writers conferences and events. And having the opportunity to go to writer’s retreats and…

Early

It’s as inevitable as my cup of coffee in the morning. At some point while talking with someone, the topic of what time we get to work comes up. Then what time we wake up. Then I tell them I get up at 3:30 and the eyes boggle, the mouth drops open, and they look…

Milestones

The past year has been a year of milestones for me. I wrote 350,000 words last year in new fiction, finished the first draft of my second novel, worked hard to find someone interested in my first novel (still no luck), and completed a bunch of short stories.  I also completed my fifth year with…

2017

A new year has arrived.  Normally this is a cause for pausing and reflecting on everything that came the year before, the good and the bad, and setting goals for the next one to come.  But after watching the world lurch hard to the right, watching thinly masked racists gain power as they threaten to…