Back from the dead!
No, I’m not a zombie, sparkling vampire or Jean Claude Van Damme-ish universal soldier. I simply haven’t posted in forever, and have missed the readers of this silly blog, who’ve taught me a lot and...
View ArticleThe careful genius of COBRA KAI’s season 2
The last season of GAME OF THRONES went out in a fiery train wreck packed with dragons and stupidity–but here we have the opposite, a low-budget show on Netflix about dueling karate dojos. Roughly 28...
View ArticleWriting should spark joy–in you and the reader
Yes, that headline is an intentional nod to Marie Kondo and her method of tidying up, where you hold up each possession and ask yourself, “Does this spark joy?” I keep seeing some writers talk about...
View ArticleThe writerly brilliance of SNL’s best skit EVER–Adam Driver’s oil baron
Skits are largely the same, mostly because of format. If you only have three to five minutes for a bit, it’s not going to be packed with revelations, reversals, and scads of character development. This...
View ArticleThe acid test for all writing
I believe, deep in my soul, that Zack Snyder-style gritty darkness isn’t bad simply because Zack Snyder directs it. Gritty Dark Dourness would be bad if the love child of Steven Spielberg and Alfred...
View ArticleWriting secret–emotions are everything
I believe our natural instincts–to write not to fail, and follow all the rules–tends to strip our ability to evoke emotion in readers. And no matter type of writing you do–poems, screenplays, speeches,...
View ArticleWriting secret: What two-sentence stories can teach us all
Maybe you’re writing a 140,000-word epic about a time-traveling Wookie who kills Hitler and invents the polio vaccine. Or you’re cranking out 500-word stories for a Paper of News. Doesn’t matter. Less...
View ArticleWhy was FREE GUY fun but unfulfilling?
Yes, my name is Guy, and I watched FREE GUY the second day it hit theaters, as required by Guy Law. Is it worth watching in a theater? Sure. This is a fun summer movie. But that’s not the most...
View ArticleWhy you need to read RITA HAYWARD AND THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION by Stephen King
Yeah, you’ve probably seen the movie, which is seven separate flavors of awesomesauce. If you haven’t watched it, this is the trailer. While half the planet may have already seen this movie (not sure,...
View ArticleDo you have what it takes to take what I have?
Listen: this silly blog started when I needed to sell the Epic Black Car, then romance authors and readers found that post—and you rock, all of you. What is up with your bad selves? Later, I needed to...
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