"The easiest thing to do on earth is not write." – William Goldman Last weekend, I was bound and determined to devote two solid days to writing and nothing but writing! And, boy, did I give it the good ol’ college try. I sat down at my desk, opened my manuscript and stared at the screen. My characters were there, in the scene, just waiting to be directed. But what did I get? Basically, this… I tried all my usual…
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” – Albert Einstein At the end of my last post, where I told you the story of how I became a client of Stephen Fraser at JDLA, I eluded to something else special that happened the same day. To fully appreciate it, we must first visit my writing roots and the sources of inspiration that propelled me into pursuing it as a career. My…
In August 2012, I signed with the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency in New York. Once people hear such news about a writer, which they often do because that writer is going on and on about it to anyone who’ll listen, they generally want to know how it happened, especially if they too are an aspiring writer. In fact, that very question is the frequent subject of Chuck Sambuchino’s “Guide to Literary Agents” blog from Writer’s Digest. Today, I thought I’d…
Harold and Maude. Ashton and Demi. Hugh Hefner and, well, just about anybody. Ah, the May-December romance, that fervent dance between spring chicken and old crow. But when does an age gap become a chasm? Here’s one theory: “In May-December romances, age gaps are okay, but generation gaps are a really bad idea.” (That’s from Oprah’s website, so it may as well be chiseled into a stone tablet, no? I should just stop right here and be done.) But seriously,…
I live in West Virginia. I live in a state where it is still legal to fire someone because of their sexual orientation, or evict them from a rental property or a hotel room for the same reason. I live in a state where gay marriage is not legal and, let’s face it, probably won’t be for some time. But I also live in a state that, during a visit from those Westboro Baptist Church folks, saw gay people and…
I’m not a very fast reader. I really admire people like this guy, who can not only manage to take in hundreds of books a year, but also seem to remember a little something about them. I tend to consume and inadvertently forget. I was asked today what I’m currently reading, followed up by a comment that this person plans to read a book a week in 2013. I love the thought, but know better than to add that to…