Survive You need to think like a survivalist when you start out on a writing adventure. The only goal in this first draft is to survive. The key to surviving your writing project is all in the preparation. Traditional survivalists are a sturdy lot who know what they are getting into before they step out into the […]
We got this all wrong… I’m sitting at my keyboard and revising (as I’m supposed to do) and something shiny crosses the monitor and pulls my attention away like a moth to a flame. A news wire reports that over 200,000 people have applied to travel seven months through space and live on Mars. The […]
Sometimes you need a little fluffy to make everything all right. No, no, no a fluffy, not a Furry. One of these… I’ve mentioned Emma and Tanner the Corgis in a few previous posts. I write with them and they are both trained as Therapy Dogs. Today, Emma and Tanner joined with nearly a dozen other […]
What Color Is It? Recently, social media went on meltdown status over the color of a dress. A Tumblr photo set off a barrage of comments over the viewer’s perception of the color. Was it white and gold, or black and blue? (It was white and gold – and hideous) Perception. This little haute couture […]
Honey Badger Don’t Plot So, I’m sitting at my keyboard drafting the last few chapters of a novel and I know where the story goes. I know how the plot lines come together, how the characters change and I’m just about ready to wrap this one up. I’m at this point because I’ve outlined, planned and […]
Is there a ghost in the machine? Technology is prepping for a takeover, if you believe the news accounts these days. Nanomachines, gene therapy, smart phones, a proliferation of drones to serve mankind and self driving cars are on the drawing board. While it isn’t the Jetson’s flying cars and robot maids we were all […]
We have lost our mother fricken minds! When did being civil to one another become a bother? I mean, really, is it too much to expect a real exchange with a honest to God human entity? We live in a world of automated artificial bliss, where faceless programs exist “supposedly” to enhance our customer experience. […]
Something I’ve been stewing on for a couple of years, is the bridge between reality and your fiction work. The rule is that you have to keep your reader in a state of willingness to suspend belief. So, here was my dilemma. I worked in and around prisons for over twenty-five years. I’ve seen what […]
Writers and Serial Killers have more in common than you think. I binge watched (yes, I should have been writing – consider me scolded) the first season of Hannibal this week, something that I’d put off for a while. The Thomas Harris novels, Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal were gripping and the movie […]
The Suburban Survivalist There are days when I should cover myself in bubble wrap and sit in the corner. My morning routine is just that, routine. I wake without the aid of an alarm clock because I have something more efficient than any flashy LED box. I have an Alarm Corgi. At daybreak, the Alarm […]
James L'Etoile 