We all carry baggage with us, some of us more visibly than others. We can't change our past, even though we would all love to. As I sit here staring at the budding trees outside my window, I'm turning over how much experience plays into my creative process. I know there is quite a bit …
I took a week off from writing to spend time with the family on spring break. It was almost rejuvenating. The weather was perfect. I wish we had been on the beach, but cookouts and slip'n slides in the backyard are the next best thing. Our van needed a new oil pan and I spent …
Easy. As any really good magician truly knows: “the trick is . . . to hide the ‘trick.’” Or for those of us who labored through Latin classes, back in the day, Ovid’s usually credited with: “the art . . . is to hide the ‘Art.’” [ Ars est celare artem. ] And whereas the …
I'll flat out say it, setting is almost always overlooked by a reader. I'm not even sure how much writers think about their setting. I mean, we tend to focus on our characters, the interactions, the personalities. In reality, a setting is simply a backdrop for the stories we mean to tell. Authors will spend …
The last but by far not the least of the 4 Tools in the Writer’s Toolbox: Dialogue. This may also be the most fun tool for both the writer and the involved & engaged reader. Afterall, who doesn’t like to over-hear someone else’s conversation – and who doesn’t really like eavesdropping on someone’s …
Is what lies ahead. Or so I was told in the animated version of The Hobbit from my youth. It's true, we can't go back and change the decisions of yesterday. We can only learn and grow from what came before. Focus on today and tomorrow. Take the next step in the journey that is …
I need your help. Covid has altered life for all of us. The most hard hit have been the small businesses across our nation. Over 100k small businesses have closed their doors for good as we all hunker down and hope that someday life will return. People forget that authors fall into the same category …
That’s the mantra for this segment of the N – A – D – D. And the focus here . . . “Description.” Of the 4 Tools in the writer’s Toolbox this one’s the most used, the least understood, and the easiest to resort to for writers with little know-how of Narrative, Action, …
Two months from today Trinity will hit the shelves. If you haven't had a chance, I would recommend checking out Genesis before that happens. The books are fairly stand-alone, but the first book gives some backstory on the main characters. My goal is to write a separate adventure with each new book that doesn't completely …
The 1966 Batman tv show featured words like these flashed on the screen to accentuate the hard-hitting action-packed images flashing across the screen. Batman & Robin pirouetted through fights, car chases, epic battles versus evil that served well the 30-minute narrative. Stories require episodes, events, and scenes, but storytelling required movement, speed, characters …
The Literary Busker 