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Nightrider's Lament

"Why do they [write] for their money? Why do they [work] for short pay? They ain't getting nowhere and they're losing their share. They must have gone crazy back there." — Michael Burton (paraphrased)

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Category: Writing

Poverty Helps

On March 7, 2017 By wastedpilgrimIn WritingLeave a comment

Clinton, South Carolina, Tuesday, March 7, 2017, 10:45 a.m. I haven’t really had much to do. Local sports, or at least my market value for writing about it, has subsided for a while. Bills are outstanding at both ends, which means I am both owed and owing a decent amount. I go to the mailbox …

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I Don’t Know Why, but I Know When

On March 1, 2017 By wastedpilgrimIn WritingLeave a comment

Clinton, South Carolina, Wednesday, March 1, 2017, 10:45 a.m. Sometimes a football team knows full well the importance of a game, and it knows it had better play well, and all the players tell themselves they’d better be ready and … sometimes themselves just don’t buy it. The fans simplify. They talk among themselves, and …

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Horror and Relief

On February 23, 2017 By wastedpilgrimIn WritingLeave a comment

Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, February 23, 2017, 1:18 p.m. I have tried to find a market for my fiction. I don’t have lots of money to pay for the search. Five novels now. Six and seven in progress. Nothing makes me happier than the completion of a chapter, well, except, maybe, getting the whole yarn …

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Spanning My Literary Globe

On January 23, 2017 By wastedpilgrimIn WritingLeave a comment

Clinton, South Carolina, Monday, January 23, 2017, 9:35 a.m.   I had another brainstorm overnight. I’m working on two literary projects. One I’ve been working on for several months. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is up to about 80,000 words in first draft. Two weeks ago, another sleepless night led me to a second project, tentatively …

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Comedy Remains Elusive

On January 5, 2017 By wastedpilgrimIn WritingLeave a comment

Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, January 5, 2017, 9:32 a.m. Try as I might, I don’t seem to be able to write a comedy. Oh, a couple of years ago, I took a stab at it. My third novel, Crazy of Natural Causes, was funny at times. It was a fable of life’s absurdity, but I …

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The Lines Are Open

On December 29, 2016 By wastedpilgrimIn WritingLeave a comment

Clinton, South Carolina, Thursday, December 29, 2016, 12:02 p.m. I got nothing. This sentiment is all too familiar, as what few veteran readers there are of this space realize. It’s entirely possible that a few veteran readers have fallen by the wayside because of this troubling pattern of wandering blogs. As I have heard is …

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The Way I Write the Things I Write

On December 22, 2016December 22, 2016 By wastedpilgrimIn WritingLeave a comment

  I have demonstrated my allegiance to fiction. At present, I am about seventy-five percent done with what will become my sixth novel. Three – Crazy of Natural Causes (2015), Forgive Us Our Trespasses (2016), and Cowboys Come Home (2016) -- have been published in the past two years. It appears likely that Don’t Ask, …

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Writing the Ages I’ve Been

On December 14, 2016December 14, 2016 By wastedpilgrimIn WritingLeave a comment

Not too long ago, I stumbled across a quotation: The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the ages you have been. – Madeleine L’Engle. All I know about Ms. L’Engle besides that sentence is that she was an American novelist who was born in 1918 and died in 2007. That’s …

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Read My Books, Save Your Money, and Hope for the Best

On December 11, 2016 By wastedpilgrimIn WritingLeave a comment

  Army beat Navy. Anything's possible. Sure, Donald Trump was there, and he shared the TV booth for a while, saying his usual nothings to Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson. I'm trying my best to respect the office in spite of the man who will soon occupy it. I still have friends who think it's …

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One Big Hullabaloo

On December 4, 2016December 4, 2016 By wastedpilgrimIn WritingLeave a comment

In the 1960s and ‘70s, pop-music shows became popular on network TV. It was common for me to come home from a high school football game and, unable to sleep after either good or bad performances (mostly the latter), watch In Concert and The Midnight Special. In the ‘60s, a couple were on network TV. …

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