Category: Writing

A look at my writing process, my poetry, and the process of self-publishing my books, as well as discussing my fictional rural town Ridgewood and the characters who live there.

Ridgewood Beginnings

I was 13 when I created a fictional rural town that became Ridgewood, Pennsylvania. I was an eighth-grade high school student who owned a portable Remington typewriter. That instrument and my imagination allowed me to escape from the ordinary world. I’m not saying my life was boring or difficult, but like the child who turns … Continue reading Ridgewood Beginnings

Girl on a Train, Poem 2024-0831

Below is a poem I wrote in 1977, a year after I met the girl featured in the poem. I kept it to myself until April 6, 2016, when I published it on my Art ~ Writing ~ Life blog. Enjoy. I awoke this morning to voices on the wind, Echoes of past, present, and … Continue reading Girl on a Train, Poem 2024-0831

Hell Hound Cover Update

Earlier this month I shared with you the new cover for my ebook Night of the Hell Hounds and Other Stories from the Ridgewood Chronicles, available at Amazon.com. I wrote that the illustration is quite dark and that dark illustrations don’t copy well via Amazon KDP’s POD paperback book market. (I have a couple failed … Continue reading Hell Hound Cover Update

Loving the New

I’ve been a creative for as long as I can remember. I drew, painted, wrote, built things—and still do … always from my imagination, and always doing over and over to see new results. My wife calls me a perfectionist, but it’s never perfection I look for. It’s the “new” that I endeavor—the different, the … Continue reading Loving the New

2011.12.13 Writing: Fictional Characters

Thank you for joining me today for another post from the past with reflections about writing and my life as a writer. If you’re a writer of fiction, you likely subscribe to the newsstand magazines that publish articles on how to write better fiction. Lately, I’ve seen articles that claim story characters react more to … Continue reading 2011.12.13 Writing: Fictional Characters

2011.6.20 Writing: An Obsession

Join me while I reblog another post from the past with reflections about writing and my life as a writer. I love to write stories—it’s a fulfilling process of creating life from the imagination. Currently, writing stories is an obsession. I live it, breathe it, consume it—I’m absolutely possessed by the “thing’s” very essence. Ideas … Continue reading 2011.6.20 Writing: An Obsession

2011.5.16 Writing: Short Stories

When I write a story, I sometimes try to tell too much of it at the start. I know who my main characters are, and I know I must introduce them right away. That’s the number one rule of storytelling. But in my haste to get all the major players on stage, I tend to … Continue reading 2011.5.16 Writing: Short Stories