Category: Blog 2019

Listening to NPR recently, I heard a presidential candidate talking about swaying voters.  I couldn’t tell you which of the two dozen candidates it was, but he didn’t wow me.  But he hit on something that troubled me greatly.  He was asked about ‘reaching Trump voters’.  Not a bad topic to ask a candidate, I suppose.  His answer, however started with an observation about Nixon.  He remarked that (and I’m paraphrasing), ‘when Nixon left office, he had 25% support.  So I think there’s about 25% of voters you just aren’t going to reach’.  He continued to talk about reaching the remaining voters, but I feel like we’re burying the lead here. Continue reading “Bigger Problems”

I’m taking the week off.  I do that periodically – no writing, no exercising, etc.  Not exactly a vacation, but a cooling period.  Does me a world of good.  I encourage you to give it a try if you have the luxury.

See you next week…

I had the most remarkable conversation with my cat the other day.

If you don’t have a cat, I’m not sure I can really impress upon you how rare good talks are with these little varmints.  Most cats are not good conversationalists.  They’re good for a few witty remarks and maybe a joke or two, especially at random.  Cats have great senses of humor.  But they aren’t really ones for more intense and serious intellectual diatribes.  That’s what I had. Continue reading “Conversational Standard”

I stand with the Hong Kong Protesters

I struggle a lot with the professional side of writing, versus the artistic side.  For those who have seen me speak at conventions on this topic, know that I distinguish between being an author (a paid professional) and being a writer (a literary artist).  I like to keep those two things separate and distinct because, well being successful at one does not equate success at the other (though they can be tied together, and one tends to suggest at least some success of the other).

Writing in this day and age is a complicated profession that involves not just story development but also literary acumen and grammatical ability, but also cultural awareness and social knowledge.  But that’s just the construction of the manuscript.  When you get into developing the book, you often also must as well scout talent, negotiate prices, and arrange additional work with editors, copyeditors, artists, and others.  Then, once the book is done, things get really harried.  Then, you get to promoting. Continue reading “Writing’s Side-Hustle”