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Blog / Articles / Reviews
- Wisdom and Humor in the Sky
- It’s in the Cards
- Really Lost (Trail of the Lost by Andrea Lankford)
- Targeted Chaos (The Chaos Machine by Max Fisher)
- Nothing More (All That Is by James Salter)
- Beautiful (Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano)
- Winning Wager (The Wager by David Grann)
- Silent Reader (The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides)
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*Finding Your Fiction: Concise Steps To Writing Successful Fiction
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Category Archives: Write
Book Review Bluntness
Recently, I read a blog, “Like the author… but” by Sharon Wildwind, in which she discusses the awkwardness of responding to a “friend’s book,” a technical writer who decided to try fiction. The book was “boring.” But Wildwind is reluctant to tell the truth. How to respond? A common dilemma. We’ve all received book recommendations or gifts, but couldn’t get past the first few pages. An online acquaintance suggested I try reading Ayn Rand and … Continue reading
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Tagged Ficiton Writing, fiction, fiction writing, Jeff Penn May, Jeffrey Penn May, Where the River Splits, writing, Writing Ficiton
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At What Age
At what age do you prefer sleep to wakefulness, prefer the dream— climbing the clouds atop a faraway mountain— To the step by step slog legs too heavy to move air too thin to breathe the dream a painful reality. At what age does the body prefer the mind asleep? Share on Facebook
Confessions of a Failed Fiction Writer
As I was hiking along the Meramec River (St. Louis, Castlewood State Park), I mulled over a sort of memoir concept that I’ve been thinking about for over a year now. The only thing stopping me is that I know I will expend lots of time, energy, hard work, getting it as perfect as I can and it will go nowhere. That is the crux of the story. As I near 60 (I’ll be 58 … Continue reading
Middle Class Mortality
Middle Class Mortality Young man full of it, at night After a few, that was me. Did I drink… too much? Could I see… what was coming? I cycle the highway Salvation Army clothes Tattering in the wind bent wheels clacking Loose spokes, rusted fender, what happened to my Lycra shorts? I work at Wal-Mart my Phd in Philosophy I shoeshine on Wall Street loose teeth … Continue reading
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Tagged 99%, CNN, Huffington Post, News, Occupy St. Louis, Occupy Wall Street., Ostl, OWS, poetry, protest, protestors
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I Could Have Been
I could have been a man famous for song for art for science and for love I could have been someone other than who I am But in the end I am who I am and we are all the same Share on Facebook
The Panic and Pain of Mind-Body Dualism
In the opening scene of the classic semi-autobiographical comic novel Three Men In Boat, the writer Jerome K. Jerome is looking for a hay fever treatment when he casually begins reading about other diseases. By the time he’s finished, he concludes that he has every disease on the list. “I had walked into that reading-room a happy healthy man. I crawled out a decrepit wreck.” He goes to his doctor, an “old chum” who gives … Continue reading
Are We All Great Writers?
Warning: I’m going to act as if I were younger and full of braggadocio like most of you young writers who boast about your voice, your muse, your “work” and fearlessly market like crazy because you are full of yourselves, as I was. What a handicap age and experience is beyond the obvious! It’s a cliché of course but as we age we increasingly understand that we know very little. While young, we understand, theoretically, … Continue reading
Kindle Crossing – Why Buy an ebook Reader?
I went to turn the page but there was none. I had crossed over. I had forgotten that I was reading an electronic device. I suspect, like many of you, I was fond of explaining why ebooks would never replace real books. Throw them both on the ground and which one could you still read? Which would you rather have at poolside, a $150 dollar electronic device or a five-dollar used paperback? A friend recently … Continue reading
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Tagged amazon, askwritefish, ebook, ebooks, Ficiton Writing, fiction, fiction writing, how to write fiction, kindle, nook, smashwords, writing, Writing Ficiton
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Finding Your Fiction: Concise Steps to Writing Successful Fiction — Setting
Setting is character. Almost everything that applies to character applies to setting. Science Fiction and Fantasy often rely on unique settings. However, setting is no less important for realism, romance, commercial, literary, women’s fiction, and so on. A teenage girl can confront organized crime in the hills of Missouri, the slums of Chicago, on Mars, Pluto, or in a parallel universe. Creating Your Setting: 1. Choose a familiar place 2. Research unfamiliar locations 3. Create … Continue reading
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