Writer, Dabbler In Things
I’ve talked previously about how I listen when I get Signs from, for lack of a less new-agey term, the universe. And… well… they’re happening again. To the point of this post, there are significant indications that I’m on the wrong track with my writing. As regular readers of my posts are aware, I’ve been … Read more
I’ve been mentioning over the last couple of months how inspired I’ve been while reading Telling Lies for Fun & Profit by Lawrence Block. I’ve read more books about writing than I could hope to remember, and while many have been solid and given me advice I’ll always carry with me, Telling Lies is proving … Read more
I’ve got a new idea for a story. This isn’t unusual. This isn’t unusual for this year or this month or even this week. I get new ideas for stories all the time. Writers of all stripes will tell you they’re in the same boat: Too many ideas with nowhere near enough time to use … Read more
I recently finished writing my first novel. I have a tendency, once I’ve finished the first draft of a large project, to shelve it for a bit before I look at it again to start editing or tweaking it. The idea behind that, which I learned decades ago, is to move onto other projects and … Read more
I wrote last week about reading the first twenty pages of a graphic novel called Undiscovered Country that had a crazy amount of the same content as the thrust of my recently finished novel first draft. To the point where, if it continued, it would potentially mean drastically or entirely changing my novel before being … Read more
Well, crap. I mentioned at the top of the year that I had finished the first draft of my first novel. Cut to yesterday, when I started reading a graphic novel I’d grabbed at random during a recent visit to the library and it’s… well… it’s really, weirdly, painfully close to being the same story … Read more
As of this weekend, I’ve broken 200 pages on my project of humourous stories and observations. That is, to be clear, 200 pages as they’d appear in a book, not 200 pages of solid prose writing. That’s crazy talk. This leads me to wonder when I should call it done as far as length goes. … Read more
As a writer, I procrastinate. I mean… I procrastinate on a lot of stuff in my life, but that definitely includes delaying settling down to finally write. Which is of course counterproductive and illogical, given I genuinely enjoy writing. But I guess there’s something hardwired in. Behold the writer in his native environment. With time … Read more
I heard Simon Rich interviewed on a podcast recently and they discussed this book, Rich’s most recent. It sounded right up my alley, so I immediately put it on hold at the library and finally got my hands on it. I don’t know that I’ve ever laughed so hard from reading. New Teeth is a … Read more
I just finished it. I was hoping to have it wrapped before New Year’s Eve–new year, new project-kinda thing–but what with the usual Christmas busyness around the house plus a Covid scare requiring added family isolation time and hours spent online trying in vain to get a quality test booked before finally scoring one, plus … Read more