The North Davis Ditch
Ditch Thoughts
For some number of years now, I have made the local Peet's my go-to place for writing. At points along the way, I have progressively (regressively?) changed my mode of…
Before . . .
Voice
Last April, after sending out around fifty queries for two novels, and probably twice that many short story submissions over the past three years, with no success, I decided to…
The Light in L.A.
Watch this video on The Scene. The New Yorker recently posted a video online (embedded above) taken from its show, which airs on Amazon. The video is based on one of…
My seat at Peets
I’ve Become One of Those People
Sadly, I have become one of those people who have to have their seat at the local coffeehouse. It's embarrassing. Everyone I know in Davis knows they can find me…
The Promise of the Book
The more I read first passages in books, the more I see this first part as œThe Promise of the Book. It™s really where the author needs to say, œHere™s…
Free Gratis: Al Swarengen and John Gardner
Recently, I came across some awkward language I had written. It wasn't Latin, per se, but it was stilted. It reminded me of John Gardner's dictum not to use Latinate…
1953 magazine in which "Trouble at Rindo's Station" was first published
Thoughts on “Will Kill for Food”
Why I Wrote the Story For some time, I have been planning to write a novel about the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles Riots (also known as the Rodney…
Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Rick Wakeman on how to write a synopsis
A few months ago, I completed what I think is a version of my novel March Bicycle Madness worth circulating. Since then, I have been settling down to the far more…
Tropes and Clichés
As I stated earlier, I decided to make the protagonist of my first novel an amateur sleuth. As all other decisions in getting started on a novel, I worried about…
Thoughts on Writing a First Novel
My friend Rick, who has been designing and building custom bikes for over 30 years, says that building a bike for someone is like walking naked down the middle of…