In addition to having many, many stories and plot lines occupying my brain — sometimes to the point of blissful distraction — there are thousands of words up there, too, bouncing around and trying to eascape. Some might posit this panoply is an invaluable tool for someone who gets up in the small hours to […]

Read more "Diarrhea of the Mouth"

“What’s that pithy phrase mean?” Mitch asked, readying himself for an education he knew she would eagerly provide. Lara said, “That’s something my therapist has been telling me for years. The idea is that in order to achieve a goal, you fake your confidence in its eventual achievement or you whole-cloth pretend you’ve already got […]

Read more "“Fake It ‘Til You Make It”"

Terms of art in the literary world have both entrenched meanings and a collected understanding among those who reside on the surface Terra Literari. For those who have put word after word on a page — either paper or electronic  — they are called “writers;” for those “writers” who have taken their words on a page […]

Read more "You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling"

I know very little about quantum physics or advanced applied mathematics; Einstein did. He was (and still seems to be) the “smartest guy” in the room when other geniuses chit-chat about those topics. But it is not his comparative intelligence or his revolutionary ideas which lead me to concede his proper place as captain for […]

Read more "Maybe Einstein was a Genius"

(Note: I believe the following applies primarily to fiction. I will humbly welcome a correction from a non-fiction writer if I’ve made too-narrow a generalization. Here goes:) There are two strong sentiments in the writing community about how to approach writing: the plot/plan/outline approach or the by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach. While some writers blend the two, I’m […]

Read more "By the seat of my pants (though I usually wear skirts)"

The other day I met up for coffee with one of my “beta readers” — a term which means little more than a generous soul willing to read a book of mine, answer a fairly long list of questions about the book, and then sit with me to have a further conversation about the book […]

Read more "What If . . . ?"

This morning when I woke up, the clock read 4:55. The sick feeling in my stomach — from overindulgence in all things sweet — had faded, though I the memory of excessive treats was clear. Clear in the same way my proclamation of a “sugar-free” November was in the minivan on the way home after […]

Read more "It’s 4:55 all over again"

Arnold Tucker is one of the four “voices” the reader hears when reading FLEET FILES. Despite having recently been elevated to the corner office at the Fleet Police Department, Chief Arnold Tucker lives a life of consistent loneliness. As an only child, his parents soothed his troubles with food; Arnold never overcame the habit. Here […]

Read more "Season of Candy"

One of the most frustrating aspects of having the capacity of language is the concomitant reality of the attributed meanings found in the words themselves. Despite access to more than a million words in our shared English language, the average adult tends to use only between 20,000 and 35,000 of them. Predictably, we opt for […]

Read more "A Rose by Any Other Name"

Writers are routinely told that it is essential to “hook the reader” early. Back in the day, i.e., long before I ventured into writing, the recommendation was to get that task complete within the first 1,500 words. (I found that tidbit of wisdom in a book printed in the ’90s.) Over the last couple of […]

Read more "It’s Hard to be a Hooker"