I’m just about to dive into the 21st chapter of my next – and sixth – novel, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which is a few paragraphs shy of 50,000 words in its first draft. Italics will be added when it’s published. But first! A warm-up. La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-lah! Get the old digits cranking like pistons! My urgency …
Tag: writing
Political Correctness
It's nothing new. It's why prisons are called "correctional" institutions. It's why toilets are located in "restrooms." It's why a 24-year-old is "a senior writer," and why people become senior, associate, assistant, consultant and undersecretary. In lieu of a raise, of course. People say Blazing Saddles couldn't be made nowadays. Yet A Million Ways to …
Mister Trump Goes to Washington
It was a long week. Most of Tuesday was a sinking feeling. Wednesday was two lines from The Bridge on the River Kwai. My God, what have I done? Madness. Madness! Most of the time since, I’ve been numb. Playing a few mournful songs on guitar. Washing dishes, or bagging trash, or folding clothes, partly …
Cowboys at Warp Speed
Every day has its ups and downs. Okay, not every day. It seems as if mine are seldom mediocre. Either everything goes right, or vice-versa. This one has gone wildly erratic. Let’s highlight the positive, though. My fifth novel, first western and second historical, is impending. Today I approved the proof. I’m delighted with the …
Futility Is Necessary and Inevitable
I don’t know whether it’s depressing because it really is or because I’m getting old and cranky. Perhaps I’m just starting to suspect that my labors have all been in vain. So little of what I wanted to achieve in life is done. Every day is a new day, but the passage of each pushes …
Tucked Safely Away
The Boston Red Sox are no more. The third game was the only one I saw. Games one and two occurred while I was writing about high school football games. Monday night was excruciating, as games tend to be when one’s favorite team is eliminated. On Tuesday, I watched the remaining baseball. The …
Spinning Supplemental Yarns
It’s not just another Thursday. I’ve been writing for most of two days. Come to think of it, I’ve been writing all week. I’ve been writing all month. I’ve been writing my whole life. If I didn’t love writing, I’d be tired of it by now. On Monday and Tuesday, I wrote about sports. Two …
Back on Schedule
For a long time, I was a creature of habit. For all but the holiday season, I was working when most people were off and off when most were working. I’d warm up for NASCAR – full-time, 1993-2012 – by spending most of a week at preseason media functions, then spend half of …
The World’s Fastest Review Is Two Clicks Away
I don't have a clue whether or not the KindleScout program will be interested in my fifth novel, Cowboys Come Home. Two previous novels, Crazy of Natural Causes and Forgive Us Our Trespasses, have been selected by the Amazon program, so, as Bill Murray said in Caddyshack, I've got that going for me. On the …
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Relating in Reverse
I guess I found some identity in Roan Poulter's Motorcycle Chronicles that meshed with my own. On several levels. There are three of them, all about the troubled, but evolving relationship between bohemian literary figure Anne Carter and the son, Jordan, she left behind. Anne is an influence but not a character, in the final …
Nightrider's Lament 