Political correctness. It's nothing new. It's why you walk into a convenience store and ask the lady at the register where the restrooms are. Restrooms, huh? It's why a prison is part of the Department of Corrections. Not prisons. Corrections. The War Between the States was politically correct. Not the war. It was awful. The …
Category: Writing
The Golden Time
I'm holed up again, writing. The weekend was exciting -- a memorable high school game, Bristol night race, up late both nights writing about them, and then restless afterward -- but I'm back in the routine of work on a short story, write a blog, pay some bills ... ... And, on selected days, I …
A Book to Bed and a Book to Rise
With about thirty minutes to spare before the Tampa Bay-Boston baseball game commenced, and an hour ahead of my weekly radio appearance on South Carolina SportsTalk, I put a fourth novel to bed. It's an appropriate term: "to bed." It's not like I buried it, but it's a little like sending a kid off …
Bouncing Like a Rubber Ball
For as long as I can remember, I've been manic-depressive about my writing. It's not clinically manic-depressive. It's predictable and controllable. It's just that, while I'm writing, I generally think it's really good, and, then, the next time I read it, I consider it unsalvageable, and, on third read, I feel I have some balance. …
Only the Best I Can Do
I'm waiting for the race to start -- I write a column on NASCAR every week for Bleacher Report -- and pondering the promotion of my upcoming novel. I'm also watching the Boston Red Sox play the Tampa Bay Rays. I've been reading the reviews. Not the reviews of my books. The responses to …
Why My Novel Is Running
One of the recurring signature events of any political campaign occurs when a candidate is asked why he's running and can't answer it. If a person can't say why he (or she) wants to occupy the office he seeks, invariably he will claim this fundamental question is of the "gotcha" variety. Then he tells his …
Horses in Disguise
I tried to think stimulating thoughts and come up with something profound, but, so far, all I’ve come up with is “you say potato, I say po-tah-to” and “what’s good for the Michigoose is good for the Michigander,” which probably has something to do with the NASCAR race being there. In other words, I got …
Absentminded Me
I’ve been absentminded my whole life. It’s not advancing age. It’s not the first onset of dementia. Not yet. If it’s an onset of dementia, it’s not the first. That was when I was in the third grade and completely forgot about a social studies project. On Tuesday, I was speeding along on the manuscript …
Not Gon’ Let It Bother Me
I’m about to be busy with the editing of my new novel, Crazy of Natural Causes. At the moment, I’m obsessing over making the cover better. It’ll work out. It needs to grab the attention of potential readers. Once they buy it, most of them are going to like it. Maybe putting all that work …
Ever More Distant From Me
Ah. Inhale. Exhale. Relax. Sigh. Control enthusiasm. Remain calm. All is well. Publication of my third novel, Crazy of Natural Causes, beckons. As part of a process that began with the nominations of “viewers like you,” (thanks, PBS) it will be published electronically through the KindleScout program of Amazon. I’m about to have my first …
Nightrider's Lament 