Amazing How Many There Are… Today Kris and I spent almost the entire day putting books on shelves in our offices and in other areas of our new condo. And we both kept noticing how many writer’s books we had from writers no longer working in fiction. Now, there are a ton of reasons for a writer to vanish. Death, of course, sickness, family, and so on. Most of those you hear about in one form or another at one point or another. Especially if you are a fan of the writer. But so many of the writers had just vanished. This business does that to writers. Talked last week…

Interesting Focus… I feel that a writing office has to be comfortable and I like to surround myself with books and other nifty stuff, including a white board. But this is the first time in almost two decades I have built a new writing place. So that is forcing me to stop and think some about this task. Now, I understand, I can write anywhere. Especially in this city. And I most likely will. But I want that anchor point, the place to go back to. I need a place to focus my writing. I can do sessions or entire short stories anywhere, even novels in hotel rooms. But I…

Strunk and White… The Elements of Style… Yup, tossed it without hesitation into a garbage can. And I own a bookstore and never toss away books. But that book is so evil to fiction writers, I felt dirty even touching it.  I was cleaning and packing Kris and my nonfiction library to bring some of the books to Vegas last week. There, tucked between two other books and hiding on a lower shelf was a copy of the book of evil. I saw it, grabbed it and without a thought flipped it into a garbage can. Why? Because that book can do more damage to a writer’s voice than pretending…

And A Short Post, Plus Repeat of Workshop Information. I am headed to Vegas once again, this time with Kris and my books and art in a uHaul Truck. Two great and very strong young guys packed the truck this morning in Lincoln City and I headed toward Idaho to go down through Salt Lake and to Vegas. All freeway that way and easy. Best with a truck of books, shelves, and art. I hope to have another blog on writing tomorrow night because, barring unforeseens, tomorrow is my easy day on this trip. I’m going slow because it’s been seven years since I drove a uHaul.  And, yeah, I’m…

Product Focused Might Be Truly Evil… (grin) Not really kidding that much. The more I think about how being product focused causes so many writing issues, the more I see how it has invaded just about everything in fiction writing the last few years. And I was no exception to that at times in how I phrased my challenges and such. It’s just so darned easy to keep score with numbers of books done, numbers of short stories finished, and so on. But I have trained myself to stay out of the critical voice issues that kind of focus brings up for almost all writers. So coming up as I…