Where do ideas come from?  Anyone who has suffered writer’s block has probably asked themselves that question in the wee hours, perhaps punctuated by the occasional blow to the head with the heel of a hand. I know I have. Oddly enough, the smack to the head doesn’t generally do more than give me a headache and a strong urge to lay on the floor to avoid falling down.  However, I have found something that generates more ideas than any other source… Any ideas?  Yup, you guessed it… That source is indeed music (did the title give it away?) It’s funny, but whenever I seem to be stuck for something to write about, music seems to kick start the creative juices.  Case in […]

I don’t know about you, but I crave feedback.  Feedback about my writing, feedback about my job, feedback… well you get the point.  And yet, that thing I crave seems to be one of the hardest things to come by. I’ll admit, I haven’t always been as forthcoming with it myself, so maybe I shouldn’t expect others to provide it either.  Still… When I submitted my book the first time, I purposely chose a publisher that asked for the entire manuscript up front.  My reasoning was, if they were going to read the entire thing, they would be more likely to comment on what worked and what didn’t.  What I didn’t consider was that they had to read the entire […]

I’ve got to admit, the weather around here is really beginning to get on my nerves. In the past 60 days we have had the snow completely melt with temperature highs of 18 Celsius (68 Fahrenheit for those of you who care), only to have it turn around and drop copious amounts of the white stuff (4 – 16 inches) and get cold. It’s now done that 7 times. I like winter, but enough is enough. And what do I do when the weather is like this? Naturally, I stay inside where it is warm and dry. I might get the fireplace going, make a cup of tea and sit back in my favorite chair reading a book. Pretty exciting […]

Yup, you heard it here first, folks.  The tank is dry, the muse is shot.  This week I don’t feel like I’ve got anything worthwhile to say. Huh?  Is that really Mike talking?  The man who can wax poetic about a loaf of stale bread? Once again… yup. Sean and I met a second time in less than a week to “Work” on our first chapter contest entries.  I managed to distract him for more than 90 minutes by talking about writing without actually ever typing a single word.  Pretty clever, wouldn’t you say? The truth of the matter is, I managed to get my book submitted again (yes, it was rejected once more; for those of you keeping track, […]