Home is a refuge. I'm holed up, contemplating the day ahead, and trying to be creative. This is the way most days begin. Precisely this. I get myself ready to write by trying to cultivate coherence, cohesion, and, quite possibly, several other words that begin with "C." Soon, and tentatively, July 14, my third …
Category: Books
Eddie & Sunny, by Stacey Cochran
This is how I came to read Eddie & Sunny. I pass this along because I have some hope of you following the same path. I entered my novel Crazy of Natural Causes in Amazon’s KindleScout program, which is a path to publication. When I entered it – posting a sample, a Q&A, short synopsis …
A Different Kind of Racing Book
Motorsports and American Culture: From Demolition Derbies to NASCAR, Edited Mark D. Howell and John D. Miller (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield) I’d never heard of this book until a copy of it was given me by my friend John Edwin Mason, who, in addition to teaching African history and the history of photography at …
You Just Can’t Beat Originality
I’m learning slowly in spite of myself. I made some mistakes and wasted some money while trying to sell my second novel, The Intangibles. I learned that book reviews you pay for don’t do much good because most of the people who write them don’t read the book and go through the motions. The reviews …
A Reluctant, Roundabout Request for Assistance
I have a few thoughts this morning on writing, publishing, etc. Perhaps I should just make them, huh? I wouldn’t need to announce I have some thoughts if I’d just write them. Oh, well. I’m not entering this blog in a contest. I do that with the short stories. Regarding short stories, yesterday was a …
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Dirty Southside Jam, by James Wayland
This is the second of James Wayland’s novels I’ve reviewed. He shipped me two of his. I shipped him two of mine. Neither of us is under any agreement to be unduly kind. I don’t think insincere, sugar-coated reviews do any good because, as a general rule, they ring false. I enjoyed both of James’ …
Trailer Park Trash & Vampires, by James Wayland
I have a confession to make. I am what, depending on the area of the country, is known as either a “fraidy cat” or a “scaredy cat.” I’ve never particularly cared for horror, be it a novel or a movie. Many years ago, when I was home from college, my sister invited me to …
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Paydirt and Paved Roads
Last night I learned that the term “paydirt” wasn’t invented by some overheated local sports writer who decided that the dirt underneath the grass in the end zone was dirt that paid, even though it was probably a high school game and the only payoff would have been “under the table.” It was the term for …
Still Chipping Away
No, I’m still not through with the first draft of Forgive Us Our Trespasses. This morning I completed the forty-fourth chapter. It’s getting there. Two or three chapters more, and a postscript. I would write “you can’t force these things,” but maybe you can. I can’t. As I bring this crime story to a close, …
The Way I Do the Things I Do
How does one write? It’s sort of like asking a baseball fan, how does one keep score? Why, there’s only one way to keep score. The way it works for you. Or, uh, one. Awkward or not. It’s a matter of person. If one starts in third, one stays there. No gear shifting. It’s got …
Nightrider's Lament 