So, I’ve not really kept up with my blogging, but I have been plodding away at my reading on the craft of writing. To date, I’ve read The Elements of Style by Strunk & White, On Writing by Stephen King, and I’m about halfway through The Art of Fiction by John Gardner. While Strunk &[…]
As I said in my previous post, I have launched into self-assigned curriculum of reading books on writing, beginning with Strunk & White’s classic work, The Elements of Style. The venture is already paying dividends. I’m about 25 pages in, 25 pages packed with fairly compact instruction on usage, so far, with more coming on[…]
So I’m starting out on a new venture tomorrow, seeking to address a serious deficiency of mine. I’ve gathered a stack of books about writing, which if I had any decency or discipline as a writer I’d have read long ago, but which I have sadly neglected. Still, better late than never, and it is[…]
I thought I’d throw this question out there to see what kind of responses it elicited. I’ll get us started… Gandalf – This is an obvious one, but I always loved Tolkien’s Gandalf. He’s wise, he’s powerful, he speaks his mind and he is really, really beautifully written. That leads me to say, if you[…]
The title of this entry is borrowed from a Charlie Peacock lyric, taken from my favorite song of his, “In the Light.” (Yes, Charlie Peacock wrote “In the Light,” not DC Talk.) The full verse that the lyric is pulled from is quoted below: The disease of the self runs through my blood Like a[…]
One of my habits is stopping at McDonald’s on my way to work for a drink and a few minutes of quiet reading. I get up pretty early, a little after five, and I’m usually in my booth before six with drink in hand and book before me. I was never a ‘morning person,’ not[…]
For all those fans of The Binding of the Blade who were sad when it ended with All My Holy Mountain, this might come as a bit of good news. I’ve begun discussion with P&R about writing a few stories/vignettes from the world and history of Kirthanin, with the thought that we’d make them available[…]
With less to say about my own writing than I’d like, I’m going to be doing more blogging about books I’ve read or am reading. I’m starting today with a post about a quote from Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. (I’m reading Gilead because Jonathan Rogers recommended it highly to me while we were on the[…]
When I finished All My Holy Mountain in the spring of 2006, it never occurred to me that its release in 2008 would come and go without my having a contract for another book. To be sure, I didn’t know which of my various ideas would be in print or under contract, but I felt[…]
Christmas has come and gone once more, and now the dawning of the New Year awaits. For children, it is so hard to let Christmas go as it fades in the rearview mirror. After all, there is so much anticipation and build up, they feel it is somehow wrong that the day can simply pass[…]