• The Logic of Other Worlds

    As I was watching on television a few days ago one of the first three Star Wars films to be made (they’re now numbered 4, 5, and 6) I kind of became aware of just how much the film*—although ostensibly taking place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away—was using so many…

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  • EXPLORER Now Available

    Now!  My first book, my first novel, and my first science-fiction novel—EXPLORER : The First Book in The Anthanian Imperative Trilogy—is now available for purchase.  You should be able to order it through any bookstore (most bookstores at this time won’t have it in stock), or order it through this website—just click on the “EXPLORER”…

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  • Tools of a Writer

    I’ve seen a few comments on social media in the past few weeks concerning writing and what makes a good writer and good written copy.  Most of what I’ve read is very general in content, and ranges from the A to Z of the instruction on good writing.  I can’t comment on all of that,…

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  • To Quit or Not to Quit

    As someone who has come to writing lately—and I’m talking here about writing fiction, especially science fiction novels and short stories—after a career spent doing scientific research and writing scientific papers and other science-related articles, I’ve seen, met, talked to, and listened to a lot of other writers, both established and newbies, young and old;…

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  • The First Writer

    Who was the first writer?  That is, who was the first person to set down on some surface—a rock, a leaf, a cave wall, in short, some surface that could reasonably retain the “writing” for at least a short period of time—a representation of an object that could be transferred to another person?  It seems…

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  • A Slight Change

    If you are one of the few who used to read my blogsite on WordPress over the past few years, I have news for you.  That site has been shut down as of yesterday, April 27, 2024.  I set up that site on May 3, 2010, while I was living in Winston-Salem, NC, as a…

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  • Research And Novel Writing

    If you’re expecting this post to be about doing research for a novel you may have in the works, that’s nice and I applaud your incentive, but that’s not what I had in mind when I sat down to write.  Instead of commenting on doing the research that invariably comes with writing a novel, I…

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  • Six Grammar Miscues To Watch Out For

    I’m not a writer with many published works to my credit, but I have done a lot or reading—of books, articles, short stories, essays, even some poetry.  I’ve read most every different kind of writing from published material to unpublished manuscripts from writers of all stages in their journey toward publication.  As a result, I…

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  • After You Press “Send”

    As an author of absolutely no repute whatsoever, I have a tendency to send out stories I have written to editors, agents, even magazines in an attempt to try and get published, or at the very least get representation.  There comes a time when the writing of a particular article or story is finished (at…

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  • The Trauma Past

    In an article published in the New Yorker in 2022, Parul Sehgal talked about what he called the “trauma plot,” which uses the traumatic background of a character’s backstory as an integral part of the story.  He didn’t like its use, and I’m not going to comment on that article any further here; rather I…

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  • The Summer of 2019

    Well, the summer of 2019 is upon us and many things have slowed down.  People take vacations and try to get away from the hubbub of daily life.  Schools are out for the most part, and in the heat of the summer, relaxation is the order of the day.  I, too, have relaxed. One regular…

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  • The Hardest Part About Writing

    This particular post is directed largely to my writing friends, though many of you who are not writers—that is, writers in a more or less full-time sense—might get a similar take-away message that could be applied to other professions and activities.  What I’m talking about here is the most difficult thing I have encountered since starting…

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