It's happened again. One of my stories has insisted on growing beyond itself or to say it more accurately, it's insisting on growing beyond my original expectation for it. I know this may sound odd to you, especially if you've never attempted to write a story, so let me try to explain, but hold onto your seat as I go a bit woo-woo on you. As an author, I believe I am a channel to a [...]
For many people, the life of a writer seems like a dream come true. They imagine a life spent in coffee shops, writing the great American novel. While that may be part of a writer's life, it is certainly not the whole story. A writer's life is full of ups and downs, just like any other life. But, what makes a writer's life unique is the way that they use their experiences, both good and bad, [...]
First, I need to provide a little context and background on why I'm sharing this on my blog, lest you think I've gone over the deep end, ie crazy. I've been deeply engaged for the past few months in an extraordinary online program, the Game Changers Intensive. It was created by the Pachamama Alliance which is the same organization that sponsored my recent trip to the Ecuadorian rainforest. The GCI is all about bringing forth the [...]
Although I’ve heard about the grace of God most of my life, starting with my childhood upbringing in Southern Baptist churches, it was only a few years ago that I began to understand the concept and then to experience living a grace-filled life. I started by looking up the word in the dictionary, where I discovered that grace means: “the unmerited divine assistance for humans for their regeneration and sanctification.” Of course, I next had to [...]
My daughter's eleventh birthday was right around the corner and I needed to come up with a present. Being someone who grew up loving to read and having instilled the same habit in Amber, I decided to give her a book. Really a no-brainer, right? I even knew that she enjoyed books by Judy Blume so I picked up one at the local bookstore. It was a winner! Amber loved it so much that she then [...]
All disciplines have their own language, from science to many different professions including being a writer. See how familiar you are with the language of writers and authors with this fun and free crossword puzzle. Instructions for solving a crossword online: Click a cell on the crossword grid, or click a clue Click twice on a cell to toggle between across and down The active cell is highlighted in blue Start typing in the word Hit [...]
Shortly after discovering that my “clan of cats” that will appear in my upcoming novel, Junkyard Dogs, reside in the abandoned Renwick Smallpox Hospital on Kennedy Island, I shared this research with my wife, Ann, who’s always ready to share her own ideas, many of which appear in my stories as well. As I finished sharing my research with her, she added, “And the cats that now live on Kennedy Island migrated from the Island of [...]
I would have to say that as a fiction author I have a love/hate relationship to research or at least a like/dislike one. One thing I dislike about research is that it can be a nearly bottomless pit into which I can lose myself spending far more hours than I want when what I most want to do is just start writing. On the other hand, I very much like it when in the process of [...]
So, remember, my favorite question to pose to readers is: “If you could go on a mission with the Eco-team of Ra-Kit the magic cat, Sampson, the flying dog, and young Zak, what mission to help the animals of Earth would you choose?” As I mentioned in the last posting, this question has also spawned some interesting results already. One young girl who participated in one of the first Readup said she’d want to go on [...]
This past year, two life-changing events came together in one of those perfect storm scenarios that unfortunately don’t seem to happen enough in my life as a writer. Both would be what most people would consider ‘bad things.' Certainly, the COVID-19 pandemic ranks right up there with bad things in my life, though fortunately so far I’ve not lost any friends or family members to it. The second ‘bad thing’ was a growing level of frustration [...]
