Writing lessons and the writing life
Joe drove the back roads from the farm, winding his ancient Impala around the narrow country lane, a cold beer between his knees. He passed Balanced Rock, hulking off the highway, a massive boulder sitting lightly on three small rocks. He shivered for a second. His grandmother had a saying: there’s a goose walking over [...]
From Patricia’s Vampire Notes comes this review of Red Gold Bridge:
This was a fascinating tale straddling two worlds that switched from character to character so flawlessly that it was barely a blip on the radar. Wonderful, flawed characters, awesome settings and a great storyline make for a story not to be missed. I didn’t read [...]
Words: 920
Music: Albinoni, Bach, Elgar, Puccini, Myers, Chopin
So here’s a statement I posed on Facebook:
When all is said and done, Galaxy Quest is the best Star Trek movie ever.
Opinions? Some people thought that Wrath of Khan was the best movie. I think it was good, but it only had one good line (KHAAAAANNNNNNN!)
Whereas Galaxy Quest [...]
Words: 1,926
Music: Puccini, Verdi, Bach, etc.
I still can’t get over how green everything is. The crepe myrtle in the front yard has bloomed, and the pink against the wet green is both soft and startling.
Wind chimes:
Everything was dark and green today. This was a jammies and tea kind of day, lifted from a northern climate. [...]
Words: 1,200
Music: Bach violin concertos
I was thinking about this recently because of screenwriter Josh Olson’s blog in The Village Voice. Among Olson’s many pearls of wisdom there is this:
It rarely takes more than a page to recognize that you’re in the presence of someone who can write, but it only takes a sentence to know [...]
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls: I have commenced book 3. With TUMB off to the first readers and my week free of all other distraction except for sudoku, Facebook, Google, e-mail, various fora, and the backlog of New Yorkers, I have begun.
It ain’t much, but I’ll take it. I am half-outlining, half-writing. So this [...]
This morning was the amazing sight of Venus hanging below the crescent moon as if it were a diamond on a very fancy necklace. I tried to get a picture but my settings were all wrong, and everything came out looking like two comets crashing into the planet, which was cool and all, but not [...]
It occurred to me I hadn’t done one of these in a while. Sorry about that. This installment is a simple one, but it came to mind because one of the students at the workshop was having difficulty with it. A poorly punctuated manuscript will be thrown out by an editor ASAP. No one will [...]
When I got to the farm Shari said, “You have a choice tonight. Chocolate or Mr. Dees.”
My prompt response: “I would like Mr. Dees, because I would like to canter tonight.”
She agreed that was a better choice. So I rode Mr. Dees in the round pen and we did really well. This was the first [...]
The new project that wants to be written is not being very polite to the current project. First it was nudging, now it’s elbowing the current project, trying to muscle it out of the way. But the more static it causes, the harder it is to stay focused on the current project. I did think [...]
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