Friends, I didn't always write these novels. For the better part of thirty-five years, I was known for eighteen-inch stories in newspapers, and for the final twenty, they generally consisted of tales of race cars running wide-ass open around and around. I still rely on such tales for spending money. If journalism still ran on …
Tag: Monte Dutton
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 …
Stuck in a Rut, but with a Plan Now
Some of my songs have gotten longer. I've got some big news. A volume of short stories, Longer Songs, will soon be available. In fact, apparently it's available now, through the CreateSpace store, as a Kindle book. The print version will be available on Amazon and, perhaps in a bookstore here and there, soon. Writing …
The Drudgery and the Damage Done
Drudgery. I'm fighting it. I'm writing this blog to relieve drudgery. When I finish it, I shall return, like unto MacArthur to the Philippines. On Friday, I was at home all day and most of the time right here, sitting behind my rolling desk. At long last and overdue, I am producing a print version …
Still Irreverent, Even on Easter
It is a good day to face reality, Easter. The celebration of Christ's Resurrection has coincidentally, over time, tied itself to the vow of poverty otherwise known as tax time. It's not actually until April 15, but it behooves one to approach that date with caution, lest one leave oneself insufficient time to prepare …
The Fallibility of Atticus Finch
I finished Go Set a Watchman on the first day I cut grass, and, on the first day, it's more than just riding around and around the yard. It's getting the battery charged, and a flat fixed, and trips to the Ace Hardware and the Family Dollar. Preoccupied is better than being distracted. I thought …
Inside the Park
It was the bottom of the sixth inning on a Tuesday afternoon, and Johnny Shelburn stepped to the plate with the bases empty and two men out. Sacks, his teammates called him. He played first base. He took a strike. A little high for his taste. The Larranega Heights pitcher was a lefty. He …
Please Buy My Novels Out of Thin Air
My new novel, Forgive Us Our Trespasses, goes on sale at Amazon.com on March 29. To my friends who cling to their tightly packed paper, I apologize because the new novel, like the last one, will be unavailable in print, at least for now. I'd like to sell paper novels. I own the rights to …
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 …
The Crazy World Is Just Getting Older
It's a lovely Saturday morning, not that I have so much as cracked a door to sniff the chill wind. My confidence relies on the sunlight flickering through the blinds behind me. The outside world flickers, also, affected by the various blinds of the programming I happen to be using. I read Sarah Palin's Facebook …
Nightrider's Lament 