So much to do. So little time. It wasn't too long ago that writers got to spend their time writing. They didn't have to tweet and post and pretend it was writing, too. A book is an art. A blog is a craft. A tweet is a trick. It's not that I don't enjoy social …
Category: Writing
A Day That Clicked
It was blazing hot outside, but I never knew it. I shaved but never showered. On TV, the U.S. Open thought it was the Twenty-Four Hours of Le Mans. I was mainly oblivious. Occasionally, a hot-pink shirt or a crowd’s roar drew my attention. Golf announcers are exceedingly calm and mostly literate. Vin Scully is …
Can’t Rush the Important Stuff
My goal today is to complete the first draft of what I intend to be my fifth novel, Cowboys Come Home. I'm expecting it to take two more drafts, perhaps only one, but I'm optimistic on such matters, and two is the likelihood. They won't take too long. The story isn't likely to require any …
The Rush of Water
At the moment, I'm watching many people younger than I oversimplifying the life of Muhammad Ali. TV is often awash in glaring generalities. I'm also having a devil of a time with this blog. Lately I'm stuck in a blogging rut. I use blogs as warm-ups for more challenging activities, oh, like, maybe the conclusion …
Back to the Bunkhouse
This morning I've been reacquainting myself with a manuscript. I lost a race with Cowboys Come Home. I wanted to finish its first draft before my fourth novel, Forgive Us Our Trespasses, was published. It was released in Kindle edition on March 29. I was still a couple or three chapters shy. Then came the …
Questions, Anyone?
A while back, I asked for questions from readers. It took quite some time, but I finally assembled enough of them to compile this blog. Question: Is Forgive Us Our Trespasses based on something in your life? Answer: Of my four novels to date, this is probably the least based on my own experience, though that's a …
A Readers’ Guide to What and How I Write
If you have read any of my previous novels, you probably know how I write. I try to be realistic. I create characters, and they don't ring true in my mind if they don't talk and act as I imagine them doing. I don't much care about writing about the exalted classes, having never spent …
And Away We Goooooo!
Sigh. I have so much to do. It's a matter of chipping away at all of them until, at some point in the distant future, I'll get a vague feeling that something has been accomplished. This is how I lost my way. On Monday, I spent the morning producing a weekly NASCAR column for Bleacher …
Be Clever … But Not Too Clever
My father was a wonderful storyteller. I was probably an adult before I ever questioned their truthfulness. It seemed like my dad was either alone, or with a long-forgotten pal, when the miraculous events in question occurred. They were almost funny. Among my friends, they became my famous, as did my dad. One of my …
Time and Place
I got up early. I used to get up early all the time, probably six-thirty on the average, but it's unusual for me to have to be up early, and I usually stay up late, reading and watching late-night talk shows, and I go to bed when I'm good and ready, and wake up when …
Nightrider's Lament 