A while ago, I asked six people to read and critique a manuscript of mine. Some feedback has come in already. It varies widely which leads me to the only sensible conclusion possible: tastes differ. This conclusion is of absolutely no help to me. How could it be? Person X loves a particular scene while […]

Read more "Subjectivity in the Face of Choice"

I’m always cheered when I come across a collection of words that can have multiple interpretations. Shades of meaning, nuance, literal versus figurative attribution–all of these make the navigation through language an adventure-filled discovery. Over the last many years–though primarily since I’ve been writing in the past two–I’ve come to know myself better. Spending the […]

Read more "The Point of Suspension"

Well, today’s the day: I’ve decided, once again, to deactivate my Facebook account. Here’s why: Yesterday, my spouse and I were at a local independent bookstore. Seeing all those stories gorgeously displayed in that wood-paneled space was both exhilarating and depressing. It thrilled me to know that I have seven novels sitting in various stages […]

Read more "The Return to the Cave"

“Provocative” is one of the greater words to which we have access as speakers and writers of English. Like most words, it has multiple definitions. Unlike most words, it has two separate and seemingly opposite meanings: 1) causing annoyance, anger, or other strong reaction; and 2) arousing sexual desire or interest. The both variations share one […]

Read more "On Being Provocative"

To hear others expound on the merits of small town living, you’d be convinced of the perils of living in either bucolic isolation or city anonymity. If you and your family are off-the-grid, homesteading in Idaho you could be eaten by a pack of rabid wolves months before anyone might happen upon your compound. Choose […]

Read more "Required for Small Town Living: Troll Repellent"

I woke up with that song singing in my head. You know the tune, right? Most of us learned it at camp or in school. It’s traditionally sung to the melody of “Turkey in the Straw.” The lyrics are: Do your ears hang low? Do they wobble to and fro? Can you tie ’em in […]

Read more "“Do Your Ears Hang Low?”"

Three years ago, I ran for one of two seats on our local Board of Selectmen. On a sunny May afternoon, two days before the election, I, along with the other two candidates and our respective supports, stood on the town common holding up signs and waving to passers-by. There were enthusiastic drivers who beeped […]

Read more "“Beat That Bitch”"

Last night, the two adults who live in my house, i.e., my spouse and myself, went to participate in our town’s annual town meeting. We left our children home. ALONE. When I was young and left “in charge” of my sister, who is two years my junior, we’d usually end up in the kitchen inventing […]

Read more "I Must be Doing Something Wrong"

Every April, political lawn signs pop up like daffodils in my small town. These straightforward, usually bi-colored, endorsements appear along the roads over the course of three weeks. The campaigns have a remarkable skill of getting them all collected by high noon the day after the local election. It’s quite a feat to get hundreds […]

Read more "The Season of Campaigns & Larceny"

Originally posted on Mark Deeble:
? The Ivory Burn is about to happen and for days the internet has been full of pictures of the pyres being built, conservationists having their pictures taken with tusks, and heart-felt video pleas. Despite the piles of tusks rising above the plains in some grotesque parody of a rural…

Read more "The story of a tusk – 28KG / VOI RIVER / 30/5/14"