Now I’ve learned / My lesson well / There’s a price to pay / For those who insist / To rebel / A man works hard / And tries to mend / All the cracks and dents of having / Facebook friends. What in hell was wrong? Driving typically was a pleasant experience for …
Tag: writing
One of the Books I Wrote
Why did I write The Intangibles? The first motivation was that I wanted to communicate what it was really like in the South when schools were integrated. In the midst of problems we face as a society today, I wanted to provide some perspective into the times that molded the parents – and even the …
In Search of Some Subjects
Some days are diamonds. Some days are stone. Most, though, fall somewhere in between. Yesterday, for instance. Mostly I watched the NASCAR race from Talladega, Alabama, and that was functional because it diverted my attention from an excruciating Boston Red Sox loss. I was happy that the Chicago Blackhawks won. I’m really enjoying a book …
Facebook Friends, Part One
The world is changing / Always rearranging / From birth to the end / With my Facebook friends. It’s not that Jerry Lennart was against Facebook. He spent a goodly amount of wasted time on it. It wasn’t that it was worse than Twitter or whatever new flavor inevitably followed. It was that word that …
What We Have in Common
Last night I watched an HBO documentary on the life of former Texas governor Ann Richards. Then I opened a book of Eudora Welty short stories and read “Why I Live at the P.O.”, which I’ve loved since I first read it at age fifteen or so. This morning I watched another HBO special, Billy …
Slapping the Dash*
*Don’t worry. The title just sounds dirty. You may cautiously proceed. I’m drained. I’ve been writing all day. The 24th chapter of my fourth novel – there’s a third that’s mostly completed but sitting aside for now – went down today, though I tinkered with it all weekend. The whole story is entertaining, or, …
A Comedy of Errors
In a small town, it’s impossible to avoid people you don’t want to see. There may be many more annoying people in cities, but this decreases the intensity of annoyance in each individual. Here in the sticks, there are people you really don’t want to see. You hear the voice echoing down the supermarket …
If the Good Lord’s Willing
Here's the entire short story I've been writing for the past week or two. It's based on a song I wrote called "If the Good Lord's Willing (and the Creek Don't Rise)": There wasn’t anything wrong with Red Hawthorn that a couple eggs couldn’t fix, or, at the very least, help. He got up Friday morning …
Where’d It Go?
I was up this morning at a little past seven. I fixed breakfast. I washed dishes. I paid bills. I talked with my mother for about an hour when she came over. I wrote a while. About an hour ago, I lunched on peanut-butter crackers, mixed nuts and Diet Coke. I played my guitar for …
If the Good Lord’s Willing, Part Three
Herewith is the continuing narrative of my latest serial short story, concocted from one of my songs. Red frowned when he heard the sound of a country band, really more like a rock band playing country songs, from outside. This was bad for two reasons. The first was that he and Andy couldn’t set …
Nightrider's Lament 