It’s a simple pleasure: driving along in an open lane on a wide road and having a light turn green right before needing to slow down. All the cars standing still from the red light begin their crawl through the intersection, but you sail through. Every year, so many people make resolutions for the new […]
The Importance of Young Adult Fiction
When I was 12, an age deemed by many to be perfect for young adult fiction, I gravitated toward John Cheever, John Irving, and Stephen King. I wanted to read what my mom, sister, and step father read. So…Cheever’s short stories were a good intro. King was a no-brainer; “The Body” was the greatest thing […]
The 2014 John Picacio Calendar
John Picacio’s art speaks for itself. A two-time winner of the Hugo, with enough Chesleys and other awards that I like to imagine he steps on them in the same manner I used to step on Dungeons and Dragons dice scattered about my bedroom floor. Vistit him and it’s like, “Oh, hey…sorry about that: Hugos […]
The Cult of Failure
Check out many business blogs, and there it is: talk about failure being a great thing! “It’s cool to fail because failing means you’re taking risks!” “It’s cool to fail because it means you’re learning!” “It’s cool to fail because I read somewhere that it’s cool to fail, so failure is cool…and I can’t wait […]
An Honest Assessment (Of Your Own Work)
Writers have a reputation for being a bit defensive. Really, it extends to artists and many other creative endeavors. (Hell, it’s really just a human trait.) People are often their own worst critics. Despite people claiming to be their own worst critics, feelings for what one does are often kept inside. It’s not that often […]
How to do Things
I have a LiveJournal account I rarely update anymore. About the only thing I do with it these days is look at the archives on whatever day it happens to be when I remember to take a look (e.g. it’s currently July 14 (I write blog entries on weekends), so I can look back over […]
Talking about Writing
I haven’t talked too much about the weekly podcast I do with Shawn Kupfer. Next week will mark putting out a weekly show for half a year. Our 24th episode will be all about cooking and eating. That’s why I don’t talk about the podcast that much, here — what we talk about, more times […]
The Weight of Words
I’m not saying this is the last Lifehacker article I’ll ever read, but I find it funny that it’s the last article I read before removing Lifehacker from my blog reader. (The article is about clutter, and for me, Lifehacker in my blog reader has become clutter.) It’s not that I have anything against Lifehacker, […]
Hiding in Your Head
It’s easy to come up with an idea and keep it tucked away safely in your head. Tell no one; you have this thing that cannot be touched or criticized by others. You can idealize it–make it into more than it might even be. It is all yours, a precious thing that you know is […]
Must Catch All the Things!
Previously, I mentioned that I may never stumble upon what would have been my all-time favorite thing. The point was to discuss just how much good stuff is out there. The doomsayers who claim, “Things aren’t good anymore,” aren’t looking right in front of their faces — good stuff is all over the place! Having […]
Writing Retreat
Last weekend, a friend and I left our jobs behind on a Friday, said goodbye to our families, and ventured to [almost] east Texas — to a cabin at Cooper Lake State Park. Our plan was simple: we would write, hike, chat, and write some more. While the hike never happened (we found ourselves content […]
Taking My Own Writing Advice
Once upon a time, I posted this entry about making your own mini writing retreat. I admitted that it was an entry about something I’ve never done. That will change this weekend. Cabin in the Woods There are only a handful of people with whom I chat about writing. My friend Deacon is the person […]
360 Minutes
I won’t even try to sum up all I liked in this piece written by James Rhodes for The Guardian — all I’ll say is he makes a good argument that there is time to do the things we want to do in life if we’re prepared to do things regularly. From the article: “We […]
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