As part of my ongoing campaign to research what I’m writing about, I went to a dance at our local high school last night. (I’ve been thinking that it would be entertaining to write about how a budding teenage empath deals with all the emotions he might pick up at a dance.) It was illuminating. And requires me now to rewrite several scenes I had already written, but I suppose that just demonstrates the necessity of the research…
High School Dances: Not about Pairing Up Anymore
January 28th, 2012Plot Synopses
December 26th, 2011I should be going off to do errands right now. And I will, really. Promise! But I was just checking my blog (trying to find out when I went to the Dan Wells book signing, to find out if it was before or after last Christmas, which in turn would tell me if I can buy a Dan Wells book as a present for one of my nephews this year or if I already did it last year) — and I was struck by the impulse to write a quick post.
The Writing Rookie Season 2, #4: Yes, I’m a Stalker — Er, Writer
November 28th, 2011This post is cross-posted at A Motley Vision. For the complete list of columns in this series, click here.
A couple of months ago — shortly after my oldest son got back from his mission — I hijacked him for a day to go driving with me in the northeastern suburbs of St. Paul, about 45 minutes from where I live. He, unwary soul, neglected to ask the purpose of our expedition prior to departure. When eventually he did discover the purpose — to check out a neighborhood and high school that I’ve adopted as the model for the set of novels I’m working on at present — much eye-rolling was evidenced. (Note my clever use of the passive voice to clue the reader in to just how clever I am. For, um, using the passive voice. Yeah.)
The Two Towers
September 16th, 2011Earlier this evening, I finished reading the last few chapters of The Two Towers to my children — including my oldest, now back from his mission. As always, it was a bit of an effort to pull them away from their various evening pursuits to listen. But once I started, they were quickly drawn in.
Generally speaking, I tend to read only a chapter at a time. This time, though, we read three chapters with only a couple of relatively short breaks. Partly, that was because I feared that if I stopped, they’d never let me start again. It’s pretty intense.
Status Check
September 2nd, 2011So it’s the second of September. School has just started for the younger two children, and is about to start for my Beloved Spouse (who teaches). Oldest Child gets back from his mission in a week, and we’re back from our summer excursions Out West. And I’m ready to get back in the harness and start being more regular about posting on this blog again — and about my not-for-hire writing in general.
No Going Back as a Novel of Ideas
June 30th, 2011Over the past year, one of the most interesting places for thinking and reading about Mormon literature has been The Low-Tech World — a blog by Scott Hales, a graduate student in English and comparative literature at the University of Cincinnati. In a series of witty and insightful reviews, Hales has tackled topics ranging from Doug Thayer’s The Tree House to the works of Nephi Anderson. This past week, it was No Going Back’s turn in the barrel. I think it came out pretty well.
Prevention, Health Care Costs, and Health Insurance
June 24th, 2011And now for something completely different.
There are two fundamental problems with health care in the United States: cost and equity. Most proposals for reforming the system address (at most) one of these. Given the vast influence that my online presence gives me (cough, cough), I’d like to propose something that might actually manage to address both — or at least address one without doing much in the way of net damage to the other.
I should start by emphasizing that I have absolutely no expert knowledge in the field of health care, thus making it almost certain that there’s a good reason why I haven’t heard these proposals talked about anywhere. But if so, I’d like to hear them.
Random Writing
June 3rd, 2011I spent about an hour yesterday (which turned out to be another long work day) writing on a story starter from a few months ago that I happened to open but had not really planned to do anything with. It was oddly satisfying. Oddly, I say, because it didn’t amount constitute progress on the story I’m “officially” working on, or any other project that I care much about for its own sake (though obviously since putting in that hour yesterday I’m now wondering if I can do something with it after all).
The main thing I take away from the experience, though, is a reminder that it’s the writing itself I find satisfying: putting words in mouths, virtual flesh on virtual bones, swirling an order of fictional events and chronologies out of primordial chaos. It’s not the pleasure of playing God, but rather the joy of creation: a rather more worthwhile thing, I can’t help but hope, even if the stuff of it is (as Shakespeare’s Puck put it) no more yielding but a dream. That, and a realization that story starters can indeed be useful when I want to do some writing but am feeling stuck.
P.S. I think I’ve already emailed everyone who follows this blog, but here’s a link to my son on his mission, singing a song of his own composition about Mormon doctrine. Fun stuff.
Down Days
May 23rd, 2011It’s a down day. The weekend was great; my sister-in-law was in town, and we got a chance to see my daughter’s choir concert. And the weather’s pretty good, with spring finally more or less definitively here (though that also brings the need to figure out lawn mowing soon). But it’s a down day nonetheless.
I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe because I’m still recuperating on sleep I lost over the last couple of weeks due to some urgent work deadlines. Or maybe it’s because I’m at “that” phase in my fiction writing process. (I don’t think I’ve commented here on my perception that each major undertaking includes Despair as a distinct, unavoidable project phase.) Or perhaps it’s allergies. Or laziness. Or some other as-yet-undefined factor.
The Writing Rookie Season 2, #3: The Search for a Writing Group
May 17th, 2011This post is cross-posted at A Motley Vision. For the complete list of columns in this series, click here.
Back when I was in college, one of the best things I ever did was join Xenobia, an sf&f writing group. It was a great experience. I didn’t do much writing back then, but the process of reading, giving critiques, and listening to other people’s comments taught me a lot about both writing and what I value as a reader. For several years, it served as one of my primary social groups. Some of the people I met there have become longtime friends — people I’m still in contact with today.
As a writing group, Xenobia is no more, alas. (It still exists as a kind of email list where people share news and encouragement from time to time.) And I truly regret it, because now that I’m finally trying to get my own creative writing going again, I find that I need both readers to react to my work and people I can bat ideas around with.