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What I Want in a Character
Sometimes I read non-fiction but it never grabs me. It’s novels that grab and shake and catapult and expand me. I read novels to get immersed in the lives of people I can care about. I don’t have to...
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Plot: My Gratitude at Being Surprised
When it comes to a plot, like anybody I want a story that hangs together — and for me it is so satisfying to get to the end of the book and find that all of the subplots were intrinsic and pivotal to...
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My Unrequited Career as a Musician
I have had so many jobs, and quite a few careers. Writing is my calling, so that has persisted through change after change of day job. But if I could have just one job – and if I got my choice – I...
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You Can Think About Writing – Too Much
I do a lot of planning for every novel. I have the whole thing roughly laid out before I start writing and I decide what I want to accomplish each day before I begin. And yet, I never sit down to think...
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You Can Talk About Writing – Too Much
If I talk about what I am writing – or planning to write – I make the writing more difficult and put the piece at risk of getting set aside, ne’er to be finished. It doesn’t matter what the listener’s...
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My Ultimate Goal as a Writer
I want to write a novel that makes people feel the way my favorite songs make me feel. Tagged: creativity, music, musings, novels, writing
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Unknown and Unread…?
In 1967 Delacort published a novel by Patricia Cooper called In Deep. Ever heard of it? Probably not. I read it waybackwhen, remembered liking it, now I’m re-reading. It. Is. So. Good. My Dell...
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An Ode to Repetition
On one level, I hate routine. I’ve made important life decisions based on a futile attempt to avoid repetition. Changes of jobs, homes, cities – and probably relationships. I have to fight feeling...
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The Value of Shards of Writing Time
More progress with less time. That seems to be the bottom line. Yesterday, the middle of three days off, I had all day to write. I frittered and chilled and squandered all those hours on doin’ nuthin’...
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When Anything Could Be Anything
I loved the days when my kids could take just about anything and convert it to something fun to do. For example, giant-boxes-on-board-screwed-into-two-sets-of-skateboard-wheels + gentle-incline =>...
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Chickens, Eggs, and Other Dimensions
There are chickens, and there are eggs, and I don’t actually care which came first, yet sometimes it’s fun to do a few laps with circular questions. For example, I’m attracted to photographs that...
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Patience and Photo Cubes
The last couple months, I’ve been working on an oddball project that is proving quite time-consuming. I’m maybe half done, and already I could have written another novella in the hours I’ve spent on...
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My first visit to The Summer Land
They say we have different kinds of memory and we each have our specialties. I don’t recall what the kinds of memory are, but the concept fits my experience: I’ll recognize your face before your name;...
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Some Might Call Him Contradictory
Much to my surprise, being a land baron is no guarantee of being financially successful or secure. At least, that was the case in the 1800s in Santa Barbara County, as I discovered while researching...
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