I just returned from a local book fair where I sat behind a table and greeted walkers-by, most of whom were other authors in the hall taking a break. Very few civilian customers from outside the hermetic literary world were … Continue reading
The Economist had an interesting series of articles recently on great unsolved mysteries of science including the nature of time, what is dark matter, and the one that interested me most, consciousness: What is it? Where is it? How do we … Continue reading
I just returned from the movie, The Martian, with Matt Damon. I dreaded seeing it because I was disappointed with the book. But I considered it research, part of my self-education into the world of sci-fi. The movie is about … Continue reading
One reason I enjoy the Arizona Mystery Writers’ monthly meeting is the variety of expert speakers who help us write imaginative and realistic stories. See (www.arizonamysterywriters.com). This week, a captain from the county sheriff’s department will give a talk on … Continue reading
I found myself reading the Garbanzo Gazette, official organ of the Silver City Co-op, while enjoying a mushroom and feta quiche with sweet-potato crust. I learned that most coops struggle with the Diet Coke Dilemma: customers request that soda when … Continue reading
The revision of “Robin,” the second android novel, is done. It’s a big improvement over the first draft, but it’s obvious there will be another re-write. As is my style, the story is too complex and I struggle to write … Continue reading
I’m still struggling to focus my latest android story on my lead character, Robin, one of two androids. I’ve put her on stage more frequently and tried to keep the spotlight on her. I changed an important dramatic crisis by … Continue reading
I finished the synthetic outline of my latest android novel. That’s an outline made after-the-fact, by writing a brief synopsis of each of the 33 chapters. In reviewing it, I discovered redundancies, excesses, omissions, and nonsequiturs. Redundantly, I had refuted … Continue reading
I’ve broken my own rule about letting a new manuscript marinate for a couple of months. My recently completed android novel was calling out to me from the darkness of its disk drive. It lacks a traditional story structure and I thought … Continue reading
The characters in my latest android story did not want to quit. It took longer than I anticipated to tie up loose ends and bring the thematic material to a conclusion. I ended at 77,500 words, about what I’d had … Continue reading