I was listening to Tee Morris’ ‘Survival Guide to Writing Fantasy’ (teemorris.com) yesterday and he said something that struck a chord with me.  He talked about the difference between writing fact vs. fiction and how you need to get your mind wrapped around the difference. The more I thought about what he said, the more sense it made to me.  I do a fair amount of technical writing in my day job and I’ve found that, in order to focus, I can’t be thinking about my fiction writing.  I’ve got to keep my mind on the writing at hand or it simply doesn’t happen.  It usually takes me 30 minutes or so to get into the mode; time enough to grab […]

I’m getting pretty tired of hearing/reading about favorite authors of mine passing away.  Robert Jordan, Sir Arthur C. Clark, and others.  It makes me sad to think of those fertile minds stilled forever (on this mortal coil at least).  Now I hear that Robert Asprin has died. I’ve been enjoying Mr. Asprin’s Myth Inc. and Phule books for decades (I’ve never gotten into Thieves’ World, at least not yet) and I was looking forward to many more years of enjoyment.  Now I have to be content with what is already released or soon to be released. For those of you who know me, you know that I like writing that has a certain irreverance (hence the name of this blog).  […]

Well, I’m back from a week of vacation and I’m feeling rested, refreshed, and about 10 pounds heavier.  On almost every front it was a success.  Where I feel I’ve fallen down is on the planned writing I was going to do. I was hoping to have another 15K words written on my current story.  Unfortunately, that number is closer to 3,500 words, which is respectable, but nowhere near what I wanted.  Still, I’m going to cut myself a little slack and keep pushing forward.  After all, beating myself up won’t do me any good. I’ve read the first four chapters to my family and they all seem to like it (although their opinions might be a tad biased).  My […]