To all my working friends, and those of you who worked hard until you retired: I’m taking the day off, and hope you are too.
Meanwhile, keep an eye out for this quarter’s newsletter, appearing in your inbox tomorrow. If you’re not signed up, get it here.
Happy Labor Day!
Self-Publishing: The Trouble with Going It Alone
Indie publishing is on the rise but tread carefully. Self-publishing is exactly how it sounds:everything depends on you and you alone. Sure, you get to make all of the decisions, but that also means you have to make all of the decisions. Editing, proofreading,...
We’re Doing This To Ourselves—And It’s Hard to Comprehend
As the COVID-19 crisis grinds on and on, I’ve become increasingly motivated to write about it…for a number of reasons. First, we’re all thinking about it, so I might as well address it here. Second, I’ve sort of avoided writing about it in some previous blog posts,...
COVID-19, Discipline, and an Uncomfortable Freedom
Last week, my wife and I did something we hadn’t done since March of 2020: we walked into a supermarket without wearing masks. This might not seem radical, but a word of explanation is in order here. My mother, who turns 86 this coming May, lives up the road from us...
Facebook vs. Twitter
The news that Microsoft will be acquiring LinkedIn just sent shockwaves through the social media world, immediately leading to speculation about Twitter. Is it going to be next? We all assume that Facebook is not for sale, but in our topsy-turvy media world, I suppose...
Nightmare On Acid Street
In my mind, I flash back to a time years ago, and the image strikes me with peculiar clarity—the dismal boarding house where I lived when I was newly sober, the shattering acid flashback with its neon cockroaches skittering across the dirty ceiling. Then, further back...
Proust in the Artificial Intelligence Era
Let's consider this week’s post as part two to last week’s part one, When Will the Robot Overlords Replace Us? I know I've been thinking, talking, and writing about this a lot lately. Today, though, I have a different spin—one which both surprised and amused me. Last...
And So The Tour Ends
Well, it's finally over: the blog tour for the relaunch of Miles of Files ends today with a stop at Novelgossip, hosted by the fabulous Amy. I say fabulous because, man oh man, has she got a following! Not even four o'clock, and already 33 bloggers have liked the...
“Narratives of Transcendent Origin and Power”
Somewhere around a million years ago, I received a gift from a fellow writer, a book called Walking on Alligators by Susan Shaughnessy. I wasn't familiar with Ms. Shaughnessy, but the book is subtitled A Book of Meditations for Writers, and it has a format similar to...
Patchworks: A Book Review
Today I woke to the all-too-familiar tragic news of yet another mass shooting. Sadly, we all know what will happen next: politicians will sputter, talking heads will bloviate, and the next thing that gets done about gun control will be – absolutely nothing. Such is...
From The Shadow Side to the Syzygy
Anima rising, Queen of queens Wash my guilt of Eden Wash and balance me - Joni Mitchell, Don’t Interrupt the Sorrow I’ve always enjoyed learning new words—or, as is more likely at my age, relearning words I’ve forgotten—so I was pleased to put syzygy in the...
