Category: Gist of Writing

A look at my writing process, poetry, and the process of self-publishing my books.

On Writing Stories

I started writing fiction when I was nine. But I didn’t write what I considered “serious fiction” until I was fourteen. They were baseball stories about the struggles, triumphs, and defeats of the game. There were no personal struggles in those stories that went beyond a weak pitcher trying to defeat a strong lineup of … Continue reading On Writing Stories

Being a Self-Published Author

Not that I never tried to become a published author in the traditional sense, but I’m too impatient to wait for something I can do myself. After all, I self-published my first short story in book form when I was fourteen. Ten years later, I self-published my own comic book. By the time I was … Continue reading Being a Self-Published Author

The Poet, Poem 2023-0112

The boy who lost his mother gnarled like a bear— tough bear he. Away from the bestial, he had softness in his eyes that laughed even when he and his words were sharp and sometimes ambiguous. He showed the plumpness of his belly to his closest friends and grunted like a pig and poet laughing … Continue reading The Poet, Poem 2023-0112

New Year, New Ideas, New Goals

I love writing fiction. It brings out my inner child. The story world of my books is a playground in my mind where my characters can run as fast as they can, jump far, fly if they need to, fall and skin their knees if they must, and end up heroes if I want them … Continue reading New Year, New Ideas, New Goals

When I, a Boy, Poem 2022-1113

I awoke to frost and snow outside my home and became nostalgic for those winter days in the country when I was young and winter brought excitement and joy of walking the woods and watching the play of nature. Enjoy a poem I wrote about that nostalgia when I was courting a local girl and … Continue reading When I, a Boy, Poem 2022-1113

Two Nocturnal Poems, 2022-1026

Today I’m treating you to two nocturnal poems. The first one is a nontraditional poem by me. I wrote this whimsical poem many years ago when I was at college and studying the classics in literature. I rarely write rhyming poems, but this one came to me out of the blue, so I jotted it … Continue reading Two Nocturnal Poems, 2022-1026

When Dawn Came, Poem 2022-1022

I wrote a lot of poetry during my teen years in a free-verse style that became coined “Naked Poetry”—a type of poetry where words and cadence are more important than rhyme. I believe the term came from the anthology books Naked Poetry: Recent American Poetry in Open Forms (1969) and The New Naked Poetry (1976). … Continue reading When Dawn Came, Poem 2022-1022