Before I get to work on cleaning up the novel I just finished, I think I'd do good to 'cleanse my palate' so to speak. So I'm aiming to write a couple short stories to take my mind off it. I am already halfway through one (I hope). There's nothing quite like the freedom of …
Fifth time’s a charm
As I near the end of a first draft on my first novel, I can't help but look back over all my other failed attempts. There was the vampire novel, which I started writing 12 or 13 years ago, in my early 20's. I got to about 30k words before Twilight gained popularity, and I …
Baby steps
The idea of writing a novel seems way too big when you think about it as a whole. But take baby steps, and you'll get there, one tiny shuffle forward at a time. Try not to think of it as a huge project. If you keep thinking you better watch that sword that's hanging over …
Intentional annoyance?
I'm on to my next audiobook, and this time it's Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, by Haruki Murakami, who I've heard many good things about but have never read. The opening of this book takes place in an elevator. An extended elevator ride that is described repeatedly, in an overly-long and quite annoying way …
Every writer
"Every writer I know has trouble writing." - Joseph Heller I love seeing quotes like these. Writers tend to be a solitary species, in my experience, so I think can sometimes talk themselves into believing they are terrible, just because they are having a hard time. Well, every writer has a hard time, even the best …
Jonas David 