Another football season is upon us. Tonight, Green Bay and New Orleans square off in the now-traditional season-opening Thursday night game. I don’t pretend to know more about football than anyone, but I do like to throw my hat in the ring and see how my inner Jimmy-the-Greek is making out. I definitely miss Death Metal Challenge, back when the Blog-o-rama was a swingin’ disco joint. Here are my picks for the upcoming week of … Continue reading the story “Week 1 picks“
Monthly Archives: September 2011
Story Engineering by Larry Brooks
I decided earlier this year, after stalling out on yet another story, to start treating writing more like a job – in other words, to take a more disciplined approach and to go less by whim. To that end, I took Story Engineering by Larry Brooks out from the library and read it, taking copious […]
Reading Rainbow
Olivia has an amazing vocabulary. She talks on and on, and it’s amazing to realize what she knows. She understands everything, and when she repeats stuff she’s heard, it’s in context and actually makes sense. So, when she asked me to tell her a story tonight, I decided that she could help me out. Here’s what we came up with. Olivia’s lines are in italics. Once upon a time, there was a girl named Lolly. … Continue reading the story “Reading Rainbow“
Three Years a Ruralite
Averse to Change All my life, I’ve been happy to keep doing the same thing. I know that the best times in my life have been when I embraced a frightening change and launched myself in a new direction. I’m thinking specifically of the decision to go to university, meeting Kim, getting married, and buying […]
Fell on Black Days
I don’t want to say that I’ve overcommitted myself, but I’m starting to believe that’s the case. I’m working a full-time job, working on a project on the side that I need to make progress on, I’ve committed to doing two websites, I’m doing this summer blog challenge, I have a reading challenge I’m trying less-than-desperately to catch up on, and oh yeah, I have a wife and three kids. So, I’ve been dropping non-essentials … Continue reading the story “Fell on Black Days“
Great Scott
[This post is the third in the 20To39 series, outlining at least part of my time in University. The last post talked about my ill-fated trip to find a home.] Have you ever been friends with someone and not known why? Have you ever found yourself hanging out with someone with whom you could not […]
De Doo Doo Doo De Daa Daa Daa
Daddy Daughter Night When Lily was younger, the worst part of the week for her was grandma nights. She was old enough to see what she was missing out on, and still young enough that she couldn’t spend the night at grandma’s house. She would wail and gnash her teeth, rend her garments. You know, all that affected railing against the unfairness of the universe. Now that she’s old enough to go, Lily loves grandma … Continue reading the story “De Doo Doo Doo De Daa Daa Daa“
I’m Gettin’ Too Old For This Shit
I’m Gettin’ Too Old for This Shit! I was meant to be a writer. That’s what I always believed. I carried around a binder chock-full of snippets, plots, plans, character outlines, maps – you name it, it was in there. So I was meant to be a writer. After all, my first paycheque from the […]