Detective story
I like detective stories, murder mysteries, whatever you like to call them. So I decided to write one. I’ve read enough of them, should be a breeze. I got off to a good start: an eerily quiet, snowy...
View ArticleHow to be a critic – or not
When I write, I occasionally think in terms of mechanics like structure. Generally, though, I’m sort of a gut writer, meaning that an idea pops into my head from god knows where, and I sit down and...
View ArticleHow to write a poem
Sit down. Write the whole damn thing. Look at it. Sit back in your chair and read it from there. Get up and pace. Sit down and read it again. Think: Shit, this is brilliant! Print it up. Go get...
View ArticleWoops!
Hello, my name is Mike, and I am terminally literate. It’s hard to pinpoint when it started. I have vague early memories of writing things on scraps of paper, great variable-font sagas on backs of...
View ArticleThe stamp man’s complaint
Janos was a good and dutiful man. He had a small house with a neat little garden plot overlooking the railway station. He kept his petite wife well supplied with money for groceries, flowers, and...
View ArticleWriters, unblock!
The good news is, I’ve figured out writer’s block. For the last few weeks, I’ve been unable to look a blank page in the eye. Worse, not even the frequent notes to myself, made in feverish wakeful...
View ArticleBut what does it mean?
A recent discussion I was engaged in, with a blogger I respect but differ with on occasion, has put me in mind of what happens to writing once it’s published. It is an often stated truism that once...
View ArticleThe writer as commodity
When I was a young pup, many, many years ago, I wanted to be a writer. I didn’t particularly want to write in any disciplined way, mind you. What I was after was the identity of the fierce...
View ArticleThe bloggings will continue until morale improves
Is it possible that blogging hurts your chances of getting published elsewhere? That depends. The ordinary opinion piece, like this one you’re reading now, can only help, always assuming you write...
View ArticleThe stamp man’s complaint
Janos was a good and dutiful man. He had a small house with a neat little garden plot overlooking the railway station. He kept his petite wife well supplied with money for groceries, flowers, and...
View ArticleWhat it takes to be an artist
Think of the stereotypes. Artists are loners, wild and unruly, enthralled with themselves, beholden to no norms, egoists above all. Whether you approve or not, artists are held to different standards....
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