Yesterday, I wrote about the best books I read this year. Today I’m writing about the most important thing I read this year… I usually don’t ask the people who follow the things I do online to do things for me. I feel that content is a gift, and if I’m creating it in the […]
Archives for December 2014
My Favorite Book(s) of the Year
It was a good reading year, but isn’t every year a good reading year? Since I didn’t write as many Juggling Writer entries in 2014 to merit the usual, “Best Of…” monthly breakdown I decided, instead, to write about some of my favorite books of the year: a novel, a work of non-fiction, and an […]
The Perfect Office
Most writers I know dream of three kinds of offices: the mahogany office that doubles as a library, a room that looks like the Bomb of Eclecticism went off in the middle of the room, and the minimalist office that looks like something out of an issue of Zen Writer magazine. (If Zen Writer magazine […]
Wooden Writing
I recently read an article about publishers hunting for blockbusters. It’s an interesting article, but what struck me most was this comment (by Gizella) about what many books lack: Perhaps it’s because a great story needs a background of compelling conflict, and in our peaceful, Western, materially rich, and mostly liberal societies, conflicts are muted, […]
In Special Places
We all have our places — locations that make the speed of everyday life seem to fall away and remind us that when we slow down, the things we love best are easier to do. It’s not just about writing, but for the sake of this entry, that is what I’m talking about: those places […]
Books…and the Movies They [Sometimes] Become
This is where the unwritten law of the Internet dictates that I say, “Spoilers ahead!” because I’m talking about The Hobbit book, which has been around since 1937. With the book being around 77 years, if I said, “Thorin, Fili, and Kili die in the book,” is it really a spoiler? It’s an old book […]
The Way I Buy Books These Days
If you looked at the bookshelves in the apartment where I live, you’d probably think I’m fairly well read, or that I at least read more than most people. But for a writer, you might think, There should be more books here… Most Books I’ve Bought… Most books I’ve bought over the years are on […]