To my young friends:
You’ve posted a lot of memes about how my generation (Boomers) really screwed up things for you, like education, the economy, the environment, and the world in general.
And you’re right. Continue Reading »
Posted in Culture, Politics | Tagged Gen X, Gen Y, Millennials, voter turnout | 4 Comments »
It amazes me how, every time I read something I’ve written, I want to change it. When I finish it I think it’s great, then I put it down for a while, and when I pick it up again, I’m like…bleah…and I’ve got to make changes.
This has never been more true than with “The Book of Solomon,” my most recent short story, which I’ve recently ceased trying to sell to the “literary” markets.
Now, in my defense, this story is a major departure from my previous fiction, on many levels. It’s a genre I’ve not tried before (historical fiction), and it’s a style very unlike most of my other work. influenced heavily by authors like Gabriel Garcia Márquez and Alice Hoffman, I purposefully avoided dialogue, working toward a more internal narrative and fluid style. Also, I did not shy away from complex syntax; I wanted to let the narrative flow in the way my character might think rather than how a storyteller might speak. Lastly, there’s a flipping ton of chronological intrication, jumping around from present to past to deep past to near future to imagined future.
The result was a minefield. Every page carried dangers. Continue Reading »
Posted in Writing | Tagged Alice Hoffman, creative writing, editing, gabriel garcia marquez, short fiction, short stories | 2 Comments »
Dear me. How perspectives change.
A quick follow-up on my decision to pull from the market a story I’ve been shopping around.
When I started going over it, for no other reason than to reformat it for the web, I found that this story, one that I had edited and re-edited, sent to researchers for fact-checking, and passed to my Beta Readers for feedback, this story that, a year ago, I felt was suitable for publication, really needs another round of edits.
And it’s not just that I don’t like this phrase or I’d say that a little differently. There are errors of continuity, spotty problems with past perfect and past conditional verb tenses, and even (shudder!) a typo (only one, but still…yeesh!)
So, grasshopper, remember today’s lesson well:
It’s never as good as you think it is.
k
Posted in Writing | Tagged creative writing, short fiction, short stories, Writing | Leave a Comment »
Sixteen months ago, in September, 2014, I began shopping my latest story. It had been a long time since my last go-round marketing a short story, and while a lot had changed, a lot had stayed exactly the same. Continue Reading »
Posted in Writing | Tagged creative writing, short fiction, short stories, Writing | 15 Comments »
I’m not telling you anything new when I say that the publishing industry has changed a great deal in the last twenty years. However, throughout these decades of upheaval, there are two things I’ve observed that have remained pretty damned consistent:
- Writers worrying about how much effort they should put into marketing their books.
- Writers’ efforts at marketing their books doesn’t work.
Posted in Books, Writing | Tagged book marketing, creative writing, marketing your book, Writing | 7 Comments »
The year 2016 isn’t even a fortnight old, and already so many losses, so many deaths. Musical legends Lemmy, Natalie, Pierre, and David; actors Pat Harrington and Angus Scrimm; sports legends like Monte Irvin, and many more have left these our shores for kinder places.
In Seattle, though, the loss that resonates is the passing of Dick Spady, 92-year-old founder of Dick’s burger joints. A Seattle institution, Dick’s was and continues to be an integral part of the Seattle fabric. From its start with the Wallingford location in 1954, Dick’s now has six locations, including the most recent one that opened in Edmonds in 2011.
Six restaurants doesn’t sound like an “empire” or anything, and that’s not what Dick’s was about. Rampant growth wasn’t part of Dick’s game plan; rather, Dick’s was about consistency, dependability, and community.
I wrote about the experience of dining at Dick’s a while ago. I hold those sentiments, still.
k
Posted in Food, Seattle | Tagged Dick Spady, Dick's Drive-In, Food, restaurants | 6 Comments »
Miss me? Did you even notice I was gone? Hehe…Probably not.
Either way, it was an interesting holiday fortnight, writing-wise—a couple of rejections, a friend had his book series canceled, another friend’s newest got some great reviews, and one of my books is going out-of-print—but the one piece of writerly news that really sparked a discussion was a bit involving CBS, Paramount, and Star Trek.
You remember Star Trek, right? That other sci-fi mega-franchise. The one with good writing? The franchise that actually did break new ground?
Yeah. That one. Star Trek.
Posted in Movies, Writing | Tagged Axanar, CBS, copyright infringement, Paramount, Star Trek | 5 Comments »
