Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Introducing Bixel
Excerpt from the second Sunshine Line book, several pages into the first chapter: He was remarkably ugly, and I’m not really one to care what another person – being – looks like. But in his case it was so marked that if I just looked away and looked right back I was startled again by how…
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Progress Report: Help Wanted
As I’ve mentioned before, Help Wanted is a fictionalized account of a true story. When the woman whose story it is — who I call “Amy” in the book — read it, she suggested two more scenes that might help illustrate some of the points the story was trying to make. I wrote the two…
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I’ve Got to Write *Something*!
As many of you know, I’m working on a lot of things right now. I got Silver Linings published about six weeks ago and hope to have The Sunshine Line published within the month. In addition to those, I’m working on editing the sequels to The Sunshine Line as well as editing Help Wanted. With…
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My Kingdom for a Title!
If I push my brain way back into the fall of 2009 I can recall that at first the title for The Sunshine Line didn’t come easily. I had a couple of ideas pass through my head, but they all seemed flip and/or lame. When it came to me, it seemed perfect, working as a metaphor…
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Excerpt: (As yet un-named) Sequel
I haven’t even published The Sunshine Line yet and I’ve already written two sequels! Well, for what it’s worth, I’ve been a busy little bee this year and hope to get The Sunshine Line and it’s first sequel both out this year. For now, here’s a little teaser: From: the July 28th 1992 chapter Maybe she hadn’t…
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Quick Excerpt: Sequel to The Sunshine Line
I love Nyhus. He’s a cowardly little worm, but he brings teh funnay. It’s not that he’s funny, but that he makes my other character say funny things. I brought him back in the third book, without having planned to. And I was so glad I had, Nyhus scenes are a blast to write. So: Quick…
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Use of The Dream in Fiction
It’s difficult to skillfully incorporate a character’s dreams into a work. Or maybe I should say that it’s easy to do it badly. As I reader, I cringe when a dream sequence is blatant foreshadowing. It doesn’t make it better if the character doesn’t remember their dream. I find myself wondering if the character is…
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Raising an Idea from Infancy
Turning an idea into a book is quite a process. I’ve had plenty of ideas that can’t make the cut. Some are ill-formed, others merely incomplete. I don’t actually make any claims that I’m a font of good ideas. Three of my four fiction works are set in the same ficton (fictional universe). When you’re…
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Excerpt: (As yet un-named) Sequel
With The Sunshine Line almost ready to be published and Help Wanted at a brief stall (just for a few days) I decided to start working on the (as yet un-named) sequel to The Sunshine Line. There are still plenty of rough edges, as I am hip-deep in the editing process at the moment. That said, I…
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Excerpt: Silver Linings
Note: Silver Linings is now available for sale; click on the link to the right (from the blog)! Chemo ‘How I’m doing’ update November 9, 2008. This time last cycle I was curled around a bowl, sobbing and puking and wondering how many times I would have to hit myself over the hit [SIC: meant…
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