Clinton, South Carolina, Friday, September 8, 2017, 12:03 p.m. I’ve shaved nearly 10,000 words out of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which has become an on-again, off-again, long-term project. At the beginning of the year, I mostly set it aside to write two related auto-racing novels, Lightning in a Bottle and Life Gets Complicated, a sequel. …
Category: Writing
Clinton and Laurens … and Life
Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, August 26, 2017, 10:58 a.m. There are those who believe I waste my talents tramping around small-town football stadiums writing about what I see. They are so wrong. Last night Laurens held off Clinton, 24-18. In a small tract of land known as Laurens County, named after a statesman from the …
Different Except for the Same
Clinton, South Carolina, Friday, July 28, 2017, 11:01 a.m. As I have recently realized, my novels have some recurring incidences, and several incidents. Over the course of writing six novels and dozens of short stories, my protagonists have characteristics I applied to more than one. I didn’t really realize the extent until I started hyping …
On Truth in Relation to Fiction
Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, July 13, 2017, 10:27 a.m. When I was a boy, my grandmother used to say, when a thunderstorm approached, that it was about to “come up a cloud.” My lawn needs mowing. I’m going to do so if it doesn’t come up a cloud. I’m also going to write fiction today …
Relative Originality
Clinton, South Carolina, Wednesday, June 28, 2017, 12:15 p.m. Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ / Though the streams are swollen / Keep them dogies rollin’ / Rawhide! / Through rain, wind and weather / Hellbent for leather / Wishin’ my gal was by my side / All the things I’m missin’ / Good vittles, love and kissin’ …
The Writing Man Can’t Get Nowhere Today
Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, June 24, 2017, 1:39 p.m. This has been a troubling week. It’s better than, oh, a disastrous week. It’s had its good points. My latest novel, Lightning in a Bottle, is getting rave reviews and middling sales. So far, 10 readers have reviewed it on Amazon, and it’s gotten nine “five …
Oh, I’m Looking at the World from a Press Box … Again
Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, May 30, 2017, 12:05 p.m. I’m not at Charlotte Motor Speedway. I’m not on a four-lane highway. Hell, Memorial Day is even over. If you’re tired, is it a mild coma? Are there degrees of comatosity? Is comatosity a word? It is momentarily. Charlotte for the NASCAR races was only four …
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Around the Track in Eighty Days
Clinton, South Carolina, Monday, April 3, 2017, 9:26 a.m. What a weekend. A new novel, Lightning in a Bottle, is out. Brad Keselowski won the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (just remember, MENCS) race in Martinsville, Virginia. The University of South Carolina won the women’s basketball national championship. The Boston Red Sox open today at …
The Rush to Fiction
Clinton, South Carolina, Saturday, March 18, 2017, 10:25 a.m. It’s been a lovely cruise, this week. Other than a couple cold nights at athletic fields, it was mainly noteworthy for what I am doing now, which is typing in various directions. This wasn’t nose-to-the-grindstone typing, in part because I own no grindstones, but also because …
That First Draft Goes Down So Easy
Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, March 14, 2017, 11:25 a.m. Hmm. How can I describe this? I probably don’t have to. Many who read it will be authors, too. They’ll know what it’s like to get a first draft finished. The mountain is climbed. The story is done. He (or she) has to get back down …
Nightrider's Lament 