In 2001, right after I had published my first novel, I found out I had bipolar disorder. The manic episode leading me to visit my doctor was severe. It was not just a state of elevated energy; I hallucinated and barely knew where I was. Before then I had not known I had bipolar disorder, […]
Excerpt from my new book, “A Trail of Crumbs to Creative Freedom” Read More »
As a novelist, I do everything I can to hook the reader and enliven the text. The problem is that it is sometimes hard to get readers to begin my novel. Why? Because reading takes effort. The plight of the writer, and especially the novelist, is that the rewards of good writing cannot be experienced
Write Like Chocolate: Overcoming Reader Resistance Read More »
Losing My Religion How and when did my doubts begin? They began with fervent religiosity, a dedication to serving God, and a lot of prayer. I was 13. In the seventh grade, I had enrolled in a strict Christian school in South Carolina that frowned on girls wearing pants and introduced each science course with
The Beauty of Uncertainty Read More »
My college creative writing teacher said he had known a renowned writer who had written a terrible book. It was so abominable, he said, that anyone in his entire class of beginners could have done much better. It was so bad that my teacher had avoided the writer at a party and refused to speak to
Writing Fiction: The Problem of Trying to Please Read More »
They come back. They always come back. The bane of summer, they make their last creepy stand in late autumn. The falling temperature slows them to a torpid crawl. Soon the frost sends them retreating into their underground lairs, where they will slumber for many months, conserving energy. When summer comes again, they will usethis
Ants, People — and the Genius of Survival Read More »
When you stare at words all day, it starts to affect you. Lately I have written so much that I see sentences floating behind my eye-lids when I am trying to go to sleep; even worse is that I often try to revise them. In light of this, it may not be surprising that I
My Great, Manic Comma Blizzard – and My Torrid Tryst with a Dash Read More »
Not long ago, I needed to make extra money – fast. My solution was to bid for writing jobs on freelancing websites. On these sites, clients post writing jobs, and you bid on how much you are willing to be paid. To sell, you create a profile page where you list your services, display scores
Cyber-Serfs: My Experience with On-line Freelancing Websites Read More »
For my tenth birthday, right before Halloween, my brother and I transformed our ordinary house into a majestic creepy palace of horrors. It was originally my idea. I loved haunted houses, and had been deeply disappointed with the one at my school Halloween carnival. Though the “haunted house” there had cost me money, it had
My Unplanned Horror: How My Haunted House Collapsed into Chaos Read More »
First, thanks to everyone who liked, shared, or made comments about my last post, \”The Temptation to Become a Facebook Warrior.\” Your comments about my writing sent me into orbit, and I was happy to discover that I had given expression to what some of you have been feeling. I have been really busy this
What is my new novel about? Read More »
Click like if you agree. I stared at the Facebook article on my computer screen, entitled “Explaining Democratic Socialism to a Republican.” I had just read the article – and now my finger was itching to click “like.” What made me pause was imagining how my conservative friends and relatives would react. They would never
The Temptation to Become a Facebook Warrior Read More »
