Category Archives: The Writing Life

Jun 27 2012
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Entertainment, fantastic points of ignorance, The Writing Life, Writing

Free Lance Friday & Story Our Life

Hey gang,

First, I want you all to know that Friday is another FREE DAY! If you need an editor, writer, or story consultant (which you probably do whether you know it or not), Friday’s your day. Simply fill out the form at the bottom of my writer page and I’ll work on your stuff for free this Friday until the work day ends… within reason. (No, I won’t line edit your 500,000 word autobiography in Swahili. Sorry). Two words:

Limited Availability!

Last time, I didn’t get to everybody. I already have submissions for this friday so get yours in ASAP to reserve your spot.

Second, some of you might be wondering “What’s the Story Our Life page for?”

So glad you asked…

I started Story Our Life back in 2008ish after starting The Brothers Karamazov. Someone told me that Dostoevsky’s characters in that book represent him at different portions in his life. Whether that’s true or not, it collided with my then quest for self-preservation via biography. No, I didn’t think my life was worthy of biography at the time. I just felt finite, small, mortal. I wanted a legacy, to live on.

When the legacy and the Dostoevsky collided, I thought, “What if a community did that? What if there was a novel that summed up the life stories of some seven-hundred people.” I set up storyourlife@gmail.com and started collecting stories. The idea is once I have three-to-five life stories that overlap in theme, content, or relational position–I combine those stories into a character. That character embodies the life stories of those three-to-five people. Then I take those roughly seventy characters and make them main and side characters in a novel and let them interact. Continue reading →

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Jun 23 2012
15 Comments
censored opinions, Entertainment, poetry, The Last of the Tellers, The Writing Life, Writing

The Last of the Tellers – Five: Of Songs and Hues

Previously in The Last of the Tellers, Lest (the Teller) enjoyed his first apple. Conversation moved toward Graham’s trade and he revealed himself to be a singer, a trade that takes a lot of nerve in their society…

“A singer? Haven’t seen a singer since…”
“The Flight?”
“No. Not that long, I think, but close. It seems I met a commune twelve years back.”
“Of singers?”
“Yes, and Tinters like a hive.”

The Singer Graham sat quiet for a time
in which he sipped his coffee, thought, and stared.
“A commune,” Graham began, “of song and hue.”
“But only songs and color, nothing more.”

“But what if Continue reading →

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Jun 13 2012
1 Comment
book review, Entertainment, fantastic points of ignorance, literature, The Writing Life, Writing

Write the Breakout Novel

I get that clammy, slimy, gag-reflex-inducing feeling in the back of my throat when I read formulaic promises hidden in a book title like Writing the Breakout Novel. However, I’m happy to say this one kept my lunch down. (Thanks to Ellie for another great rec). For one, Maass promises no short cut. Hard work pays. For another, he shifts the blame for bad book revenue from the editors, agents, publishers and publicists to where it should be–on the author. If your story does not sell, you have no one to blame but yourself. That’s why I talk about the reformation of rejection. Most e-book writers don’t boast stacks of rejection letters from editors of journals for short stories they’ve written. If e-book writing is your short cut, Maass has bad news: no short cut exists, neither in surgeon residencies nor authorial bootcamps.

Instead of giving it this book the old one-two, I figured I’d list out my favorite Maassian thoughts: Continue reading →

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Jun 05 2012
11 Comments
Entertainment, fantastic points of ignorance, literature, The Writing Life, Writing

Short Stories

Pay close attention to this post, regulars and literators. It’s short, I promise.

After spending the last couple of years getting advice from other writer friends, close friends, logging some 2,300+ hours writing and editing hundreds of pages of fiction, I’m reaching a saturation point. The good part is, my own fiction’s infinitely better than it was seven years ago. The bad part is, my friends are either burned out, busy or (like I said) other writers. I’m not saying I don’t appreciate them–I’m indebted to all of them beyond repayment.

However, there comes a time where it’s helpful to get the broader opinion of readers or people you know solely through the avenues of career. In some ways, that’s you guys who read this. That’s when I thought, “Hey, I’ll just toss some fiction into my website and see what catches fire.” Continue reading →

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May 21 2012
3 Comments
impulsive pastimes, lancelot's roundtable miscellany, life, The Writing Life, Writing

“Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.”

Recent Work Miscellany

The following articles by yours truly will come out next month, this month or next year at this time:
  • “To Prevail or ‘How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Flak’” in Hollywood and Vine (article, May/June 2012)
  • “Poker in the Pokey” in Poker Pro (article, June 2012)*
  • “Stamping the Name” in Encounter (article, May 2012)
  • “Choices Make the Man” in Encounter (article, Spring, 2013)
  • “The List” in Encounter (article, Spring 2013)
  • “Remember My Death” in Encounter (article, Spring 2013)
  • for older stuff, see published works and projects under the Writer tab
*This was cowritten with another writer under the pseudonym Thom Schriver

Continue reading →

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May 14 2012
6 Comments
Entertainment, gergia, impulsive pastimes, life, The Writing Life, Writing

On Being a Public Figure Before Peforming

This post is one of my unicorns.

What I mean is I have inched toward this post without warning of its approach for years. In Southern Illinois, as is the case in other parts of the world where they don’t junk cars but “let ‘em rust down,” high school morons hill hop. Hill hopping fits onto the roster of hick track and field, those games that need “don’t try this at home” stickers. Young sixteen-year old men (and women on the coasts) rev up their car engines and catapult over hilltops on country roads, daring other cars to meet them head-on. Thing is, not all other cars are chicken–some just play chicken. Another dozen teens will die this year meeting unseen cars while hopping hills.

Somewhere between hill hopping and unicorns lies this post. No one can catch a unicorn. Unicorns find you. No one expects to die hopping a hill in a Pontiac, but it happens. I’m blindsided by this post because for the last seven years, in the midst of all of my other writing, I have worked on my world of Gergia. No other novel existed–only Gergian books and notes and maps. If Rowling and Rothfuss can work on one series, win a writer’s contest and instantly publish a best seller, anyone can, right? That’s what I thought anyway, and so I pushed off all other projects — twenty novel ideas, dozens of short story ideas, screenplays, journalistic things — for THE SERIES.

The last few weeks, my writing slowed and stalled. I… Was… Crawling… Through… Sentences. It was block in the proper sense of the word–my discipline was trying to force words like water through a clogged toilet. I stalled at the 52,000th word. I would rework scenes, attack the story from another angle and stop at the same place. Another angle, more resistance. It was like trying to chop down a cherry tree with a brand new axe WHILE circling the tree like a foe from some spaghetti western. Only the tree was no bringer of cherries. It was this colossal inbred monster of its cedar mother and redwood father. My axe also turned out to be a cheap camp hatchet.

Something happened this weekend that changed all of that. This week I was armed with an axe and a maul…

Continue reading →

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May 11 2012
2 Comments
censored opinions, Storyssentials, The Writing Life, Writing

Storyssentials: Sentence

Brevity and depth–that’s what you can expect from this post if you reflect.

It would seem trivial to call “sentences” essential bits of story. Part of this comes from people who assume that writers toil for words. Photographers use photoshop, but they toil for photos. Graphic designers use illustrator, but they toil for graphics. Writers use words, but they toil for stories. The medium of a writer is story-essence, not words. Because of this, I ask one thing today: what do stories teach us about sentences and what can sentences teach us about stories?

Three key parts of a sentence follow:

  1. Subject
  2. Verb
  3. Ending

That sounds stupid, but hang with me. We’re building off of what we assume. By “ending” I don’t mean “object.” I mean what word ends your statement? Sentences are microcosms of story. Your understanding of how they work reflects your story-consciousness. The most important part of the story is the subject, or the protagonist. The second most important part of the story is the verbage, the escalation of conflict, what the subject chooses to do. The third is the climax and resolution. What goal is the protagonist working toward? Do they succeed? Continue reading →

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Apr 20 2012
7 Comments
censored opinions, creativity, literature, The Writing Life, Writing

A Secretary and a Rocking Chair

Hard chair, soft chair.

That’s the dichotomy my greatest rhetoric professor taught me. For a twenty-minute talk, spend ten hours of research in the hard chair and the soft chair’s for the ten hours of reflection on the relevance of your talk. Hard chairs discipline us to grind through the big books. Soft chairs encourage us to think like the people. He uses both when he writes oral manuscripts.

For me, I’ve isolated my work away from my office desk and dining room table to what’s called a secretary, this wall-mounted fold-out writing desk with shelves on top for incoming and outgoing letters. (I’m still hand writing to my pen pals for those of you who want to get in on it). At first, I used this striped, low-backed wooden chair with padded seating. Hard chair with a slight cushion. Good blend, I figured. My chiropractor disagrees… vehemently. So I set that one to the side to hold my satchel (something else my chiropractor hates. He seems to think I’ve got the spine of a retiree. What does he know?)

I fell into the rocking chair by accident. It was one of those days where you’re on a roll and need to make a quick change Nascar style. I switched out chairs and went back to work. Over time, I noticed more back support, but that’s not the only thing that came…

Hard chair and soft chair. Research chair and “so what?” chair. These are the chairs where we nurse and rock our kids to sleep. Soft chair. And yet these are the chairs of old men in old English wings who still tell the old stories to their students. Hard chair. In rockers fathers hold daughters as they cry. Soft chair.A rocker tested Benjamin Martin’s carpentry skills at the start of The Patriot. Hard chair. Continue reading →

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Apr 13 2012
4 Comments
censored opinions, Entertainment, The Writing Life, Writing

Automate Your Second Draft


If you’ve ever written a paper, story or speech, you’ll want to learn how to do this. Elsewhere I’ve ranted about the benefits of reading your words aloud or having someone read them back to you. Things sound different when spoken into the air, when you hear words exist as they were intended – audible symbols representing meaning. When we hear our own words, we discover otherwise invisible rewrites waiting to aid our work.

Yesterday, I was playing around with the new gestures on OS Lion. Doing the two-finger-click-look-up thing, I saw the Speech > start speaking menu and tried it out.

Now I’ve known about the Apple reading voice at least since the iMac days. Even still, it was nice to find I could hear audio versions of the blogs I was reading yesterday via one highlight and one click. But that wasn’t enough. That little automator bot with his lead pipe/RPG taunted me yet again, standing his ground on my dock. Continue reading →

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Apr 09 2012
9 Comments
creativity, impulsive pastimes, production, Storyssentials, The Writing Life, Writing

On May First, I Work For Free

What May Day means for me:

From Chicago to Paris to New York City, the History of May Day seasons our past with workers’ revolutions. This May first, millions of people worldwide will take part in a General Strike against a broken system, asking the question: what would a day be like without 99% of us? Those who suffer under economic injustice will refuse to work, go to school, do housework or even shop. Instead they’ll hit the streets.

Those who enjoy their work – freelancers like me – will still work all day, but for free. Consider it a one-day jubilee where everyone gets a holiday and a hall pass. On May Day I will offer my writing, editing and story consultation services but I won’t charge you a cent.

What May Day means for you:

Some of you have procrastinated hearing critique on your screenplays and stories. Others of you wanted my help, but because of life circumstances you couldn’t afford my rates. On May 1st, I remove the roadblocks of procrastination and price so that we can get your ball rolling together. You get what you need, but for free.

Here’s how it will work:

Continue reading →

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Mar 23 2012
32 Comments
Critique the Critics, Entertainment, humor, literature, The Writing Life, Writing

Rejection Letter Fail

Therapeutic to watch a writer tweak this rejection email sent CC: by mistake from agent to 238 of us:#amwriting #fail pic.twitter.com/MRF2qhFf

(This email thread went on for hours as we all bantered back and forth about it. They call themselves “The 238″).

Mar 05 2012
3 Comments
article review, book review, C.S. Lewis, Cities, Entertainment, film, humor, impulsive pastimes, literary interpretation, literature, movie review, New York City, news, poetry, Religion, Storyssentials, The Writing Life, Tolkien, travel, Writing

Small Demons Preview

Thanks to Yewknee for sharing Small Demons with me back in October. I refrained from sharing with all of you Literators back then because, frankly, there was so little to share. Sometimes beta-testing looks like questing with your half-orc across frozen wastelands until the game glitches and dies, sometimes it looks like stress-testing Google Wave.

At other times it looks like this:

…

…

…

So I’ve been waiting and waiting for Small Demons to put enough content up for me to share it with all of you. Today’s the day.

Here goes:

Continue reading →

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