The Cruelty of Fiction Writers
My teen boy protagonist is about to suffer. I am going to see that he does. As written right now, Jack’s rented horse, Thor, causes some inconvenience. But inconvenience does not make the compulsion to turn another…
Telling a Better Story
I am typing at my desk at the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference, in Black Mountain, North Carolina. (If any bad guys are reading this, I’ll have you know I left behind the forester. Don’t let…
8 reasons to keep a five-year memory book
Nine years ago I started my first one-year journal. I’m grateful for eight reasons. 1. Confining thoughts to four, five, or six tight lines requires the writer to be succinct and brief, a habit that has benefitted…
How dare you?
I should write what I know. What qualifies me to get in the head of a boy?
And now for something completely different…
I am coming out of the closet. I here confess a great weakness: I don’t like to stay focused on one new interest very long. I reach a point where I feel I have learned the steps…
