One of my early inspirations for writing was Neil Peart, the drummer and lyricist for the band, Rush. I discovered his words when I was a teenager, probably no more than 13 or 14 years old. A guy that sat next to me in one of my classes let me…
Author: RB
Philip Roth
Mr. Roth is one of those authors I’ve known about but never had the opportunity to read. I had heard of some of his novels: Portnoy’s Complaint, American Pastoral, Ghost Writer, along with his most famous (and recurring) character, Zuckerman. I’ve read of the controversy, the claims of antisemitism, the…
14 Day Challenge – Update
So my friend and I completed our 14-day creative challenge. I think it went well. Our biggest complaint was the time constraint…having to come up with something in such a short period of time. Full-time jobs, chores, family obligations all get in the way. But we pushed ourselves and did…
14 Day Challenge
An artist friend of mine recently convinced me to participate in a 14-day creative challenge. The basic premise is that she will pick a random word from a jar each day, and she and I each have to create something based on that word. Seeing how she is an artist…
Old School
I was in a store yesterday and while browsing the shelves I came upon an electric typewriter. No, it wasn’t used or vintage. It was brand new, still in the sealed box, for $99.00. I stopped to admire it for a few minutes and chuckle over the fact that on…
Thought to Page
Coming up with story ideas isn’t terribly hard. I have my list of story titles that often provides inspiration, and other times ideas spring from things I’m reading, or maybe a movie, and sometimes they just come out of nowhere. I don’t think I’ll ever have a shortage of story…
Storytelling, Part 1
Telling a story seems straight-forward…you start at Point A and work your way to Point Z. Beginning and ending. It’s been that way since humans first told stories to one another around a camp fire in the faded past and continues today with e-books. The thing is, an A –…
Being Fearless
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the…
Raymond Carver
I’ve been working my way through a copy of Raymond Carver’s collected short stories. I had read a handful of his stories when I was in college and I found a writing style that I wanted to mimic. That’s the thing with writers, especially when we’re still trying to find…