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 and I’m a writer, the… Continue reading
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 the same day, in two… Continue reading
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 prompts, of which my only… Continue reading
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 – Z approach to storytelling gets… Continue reading
“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 fear has gone there will… Continue reading
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 our footing…we feel a connection… Continue reading
Have you ever daydreamed when riding in a car on a long road trip? You know what I mean? It’s one of those quiet stretches. You have the radio playing some local station you picked up while passing through a small town. The driver is fixed on the road ahead while you stare out the… Continue reading
I’ve read different takes on whether or not a writer should outline their stories ahead of time or if they should just wing it. Over the years I’ve tried both methods, but I find that winging it works best for me. At least for my short stories. The one novel draft I’ve completed started with… Continue reading
I like to have background music playing when I write. Nothing too distracting. I generally like something like Ambient or Lounge, maybe Classical or Alternative. Just depends on my mood and what I’m writing. For sci-fi, I like to have electronic music playing, generally instrumental. It sets the mood, makes for a nice layer of… Continue reading
I often dream about the stories I’m working on. Sometimes it’s on purpose. I’ll lay in bed at night and think about the story so far, the characters, who they are and what will they do, and then I drift off and dream about what happens next. Other times, it’s completely involuntary. I sleep and… Continue reading