Painting With Light

Should Writers Make New Year Resolutions?

December 30, 2015

Winter-Landscape
What’s on Your Writing Horizon in 2016?

If you’ve been around here a while, you know I quit making New Year resolutions a long, long time ago. I never managed to keep them anyway (particularly those related to exercise and weight loss), despite my best intentions.

The only resolution I’ve ever come close to keeping was my promise to go on writing stories, as long as I could.

I’m happy to say I’m approaching another significant birthday number (at my age, every birthday number is significant) … and my storytelling muse is still going strong.

Thankfully, no special equipment is needed beyond the ability to use words … and a whole lot of imagination, and my long-suffering bride tells me I’m still doing well in both of those departments. She can tell just by the way I answer her when she has chores for me to do.

Imagination and Words
Powerful stuff. I continue to practice my storytelling because well-used words are like magic … and meaningful communication is an art. Besides, it makes me feel good.

About this time last year I was mired in another spell of writers’ block but, by summertime I had finished my novel STREET LIGHT. I’m delighted to say it received a 5-Star review from Readers Favorite, who said “… it was hard to put down …”

There was even more excitement in my house last month (from me, anyway), when the online review site Shelf Unbound made STREET LIGHT one of its Notable 100 Books for 2015.

I honestly thought STREET LIGHT finished the story I began years ago with my novels REICHOLD STREET and ONE WAY STREET but, you know, a funny thing happened.

A few weeks ago when I sat down to write, as I usually do every day, some of the trilogy characters appeared and decided they had more they wanted me to say.

They were so insistent I couldn’t tell them no. So, I’m about 8,700 words into a new book right now based on what they were telling me.

A book I didn’t think was going to happen.

New Work Coming
I’d be further along with it but, at the same time, I’m also more than 22,000 words into a completely new novel.

This one will have a strong touch of fantasy, but it also draws a lot on real American history. I got the idea while researching my family tree.

Look for it next summer.

Advice
For every writer and soon-to-be writer out there, there is a great piece of advice I discovered a long time ago that is still relevant, and worth passing along again.

Keep reading and keep writing … and, by all means, have fun.

I know I will. Call it a resolution, if you like. It’s one I intend to keep. Someday I may even get it right.

Best Wishes to Everyone for the New Year.

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My books have all garnered some terrific reviews, and you can see the ones I have available by using the Amazon link below.

You’re invited to visit my web site, BROKEN GLASS, or like my Book of Face page. You can also follow some of my shorter ramblings on The Twitter.

The Official Book Trailer for “Street Light”

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Comments posted below will be read, greatly appreciated and perhaps even answered.

Tags: self-publishing, storytelling
Posted in Award-Winning Fiction, Book Promotion, Storytelling | 2 Comments »

Why Writers Help Writers

December 15, 2015

fastest-writer-on-the-world
If Only My Fingers Would Move That Fast.

Writers tend to stick together. I think it’s got something to do with the craft we’ve chosen to pursue. For the most part, it tends to be a rather solitary business, and to a lot of people it looks easy.

“After all,” they say, “all you have to do is write down words.”

Sure. Don’t I wish it was that simple?

Any writer worth his salt (pardon the cliché, but at the moment I’m working on two different novels … plus, it’s the holiday season … who has time to be overly creative?) …

Most of those writers certainly know that good writing (ah, there’s the disclaimer I was looking for … good writing) doesn’t just happen. It takes extraordinary effort.

“It ain’t whatcha write, it’s the way atcha write it.”
~ Jack Kerouac

“It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.”
~ Ernest Hemingway

“Making people believe the unbelievable is no trick; it’s work.”
~ Stephen King

* * * * * * * *

A friend of mine, Evans Bissonette (above), a fellow writer, mentioned a couple of writing groups he attends in the area that are looking for a few new members and, since they provide that writerly help I’m talking about, I told him I’d put his flyer in my next blog.

I’m not normally a fan of critique groups, but I appreciate the idea of writers helping other writers so much that I might be intrigued enough to attend a couple of these sessions myself … because I’m certain I can use the help … not just because Evans is such a nice guy.

Here’s his flyer:

sunset scribes
The email link above, which doesn’t work in the jpeg image of his flyer, is typefont@gmail.com. If you’re interested in either group (or both), be sure to contact them before the end of January.

**********

My books have all garnered some terrific reviews, and you can see the books I have available by using the Amazon link below.

You’re invited to visit my web site, BROKEN GLASS, or like my Book of Face page. You can also follow my shorter ramblings on The Twitter.

Street Light was just selected by Shelf Unbound as 1 of 100 Notable Books for 2015

The Official Book Trailer for “Street Light”

**********

Comments posted below will be read, greatly appreciated and perhaps even answered.

Tags: indie writers, self-publishing, storytelling
Posted in Book Promotion, Independent Publishing, Storytelling | 8 Comments »

My Book Signing … and Story Ideas

December 5, 2015

earth The Source of My Ideas

Funny thing about book signings. As active and engaging as I try to be, there is often a lot of time for reflection. Like when you’re just sitting around waiting for someone to show up.

Like today.

It’s never wasted time, however, because it gives you an opportunity to talk to the other authors.

I had an interesting conversation and received a good question about story ideas from one of the young woman writers in attendance with me. Namely, where did mine come from?

“I don’t know about you,” I said, “but I find ideas everywhere.”

For Instance
I looked up the name of an old friend the other day … Kenny Riddle.* He was a tousle-haired kid from down the block I had known for years, and then lost track of after my family moved.

At one time, he had been one of my best friends. He was also the kid who first made me see stars.

Literally.

He objected to a comment I made about his play-calling during one of our street-tag football games and gave me a punch … smacked me upside the head, as he would have said … and I saw purple stars.

I punched him back and bloodied his nose, and we wrestled each other to the ground. I’m sure the other guys with us were thinking fight! … but a funny thing happened.

As we wrestled around, we quit punching each other and both of us started laughing. Then we helped each other up and went on playing ball, as if nothing had occurred.

I’ve said it before … kids are remarkably resilient beings.

My family moved out of the neighborhood and I lost track of him. After all this time, I had actually pretty much forgotten about him … until my eighty-seven-year-old mother, cleaning out shoe boxes full of old photos, handed me one she couldn’t identify.

“Do you know who this is?” she said.

ken riddle I looked at the insolent kid staring out of that old black and white photo and saw Kenny Riddle.

Standing in the driveway of my old house, his arms were crossed and he was leaning on the hood of my father’s old ’62 Chrysler, with the same smug look on his face as the day I’d told him what a boneheaded play he’d made.

I looked at that picture and, just for a second, in my mind I saw those purple stars again.

Good ol’ Ken. I hadn’t seen him since the summer of 1965. I wondered whatever had happened to him?

I put the photo on the table next to my laptop when I got home, where it got buried in a stack of bills and prescription forms I was saving for the tax-deduction section of my annual IRS filing.

Out of sight, I promptly forgot about it. It stayed in that stack for at least a week, until my lovely bride decided she’d had enough of my paper junk spread all over the kitchen table.

“Please, clean it up,” she said, rolling her eyes.

Ken’s picture was one of the last things I found as I went through the pile. I saw it and wondered again, whatever had become of him?

I decided, just for the heck of it, to Google his name and see what happened. It wasn’t, I thought, an overly common name, so perhaps I’d get lucky and find some way to contact him again after 50 years.

Wouldn’t that surprise him?

To my own surprise, I did find him … right away. But, sadly, there wasn’t going to be any way to talk to him.

What I found was an old obituary notice.

Ken had passed away in 2009. I was six years too late to contact him and renew our old friendship. The only way it might still have been possible was time travel.

At first I was sad.

Then I thought … what if?

————
*name may have been changed to keep him innocent

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My books have all garnered some terrific reviews, and the idea you just read may appear among them soon. If you didn’t make it to the book-signing today, you can still see the stories I have available by using the Amazon link below.

You’re invited to visit my web site, BROKEN GLASS, or like my Book of Face page. You can also follow my shorter ramblings on The Twitter.

Street Light was just selected by Shelf Unbound as 1 of 100 Notable Books for 2015

The Official Book Trailer for “Street Light”

**********

Comments posted below will be read, greatly appreciated and perhaps even answered.