I recently reviewed on this site, Palahniuk’s Rant: An Oral History of Buster Casey, which I liked enough to consider nominating it for group study, but I hesitated because it’s so vulgar: both puerile and prurient. A long-running joke, repeated … Continue reading
Funny, Imaginative, and Vulgar This is my first Palahniuk novel, and to my surprise, I enjoyed it. Surprised because it’s not the sort of thing I normally like, a hodge-podge of urban punk, violent, humorous, sci-fi, horror of an experimental thing. … Continue reading
I’m happy to announce that my characters are awake again and chattering like children in a playground. I knocked out a short chapter and now I sit at 41K words, just past dead center. One reason I was able to … Continue reading
I enjoyed the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference, got some good feedback on my work, met some interesting people, learned a few things about myself and the writing life. It wasn’t the best conference I’ve ever been to. There were lots of … Continue reading
I should really set a novel in Bakersfield, CA, as the reality stretches beyond my imagination. It is a strange place, largely agricultural, but also an oil town, with at least one major refinery and many, many grasshopper pumps in … Continue reading
Last day of the writers’ conference at Mendocino, CA. I was workshopped today. What thrilled me about the critique of a chapter from my detective novel is that they bought the world. Lots of comments and suggestions were made about … Continue reading
My writers’ conference is moderately interesting so far. Fortunately, I am autodidactic, which means I never met a person I couldn’t learn from. This conference cost a third of what the Taos conference cost last year, and I’d say that … Continue reading
I’ll be appearing next at the Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference in Fort Bragg, CA. That’s about 150 Miles north of San Francisco, right on the ocean. For someone from Tucson, it will be a cooling off of 45 degrees F. … Continue reading
An interesting and well-written article at NBC news discussed the recent discovery of earth-like planet Kepler 452b, sometimes dubbed, “Earth 2.0.” http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/could-human-beings-ever-reach-earth-2-0-n399956 Apparently, Earth 2.0 is rocky, moderate in temperature, and could harbor liquid water. It might even have an … Continue reading
Almost halfway there, at 35,000 words, and still worried. I just drafted chapter 14 of my novel-in-progress. Fifteen has to take a sharp turn so that’s why I’m stalling. Usually I conceptualize moves that take a couple of chapters to … Continue reading