Why Fiction

When I was younger, in grade school, junior high and high school, I wrote stories, fiction. I wrote fiction because that is what I read. And I wrote fiction because it was fun. I wrote reams of the stuff. I quite consciously imitated the authors I was reading, their style, their pacing, their plots. It [...]

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The Writing Struggle

On a brief phone call a short while ago I was asked, “Have you written today?” The hazel-eyed voice of accountability on the other end was reminding me of my commitment to 500 words (a couple of pages or so) per day. I had not. (As I’m writing this, my word counter says I’m at [...]

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On Writing

If one is at a social gathering, say a holiday party of friends and acquaintances, introductions having been made and the inevitable discussion about one’s interests and hobbies comes up, admitting that you “like to write” borders on the level of awkwardness as admitting you like to glue Kewpie dolls together into large pyramids in [...]

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The Artist’s Life

Are you a born writer? Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action. Do it or don’t do it. It may help to think of it this way. If you were meant to cure cancer or write [...]

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Musings on Vocation, and a Parable of Sorts

There is on the one hand one’s discovery of a vocation, and on the other, a vocation’s discovery of one. One may come to the realization of a vocation while going about one’s daily life, and one may also have that immediate and vivid sense of calling that grabs hold of the inner attention and [...]

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Message in a Bottle

Earlier this evening, I went downstairs to look for and to go through my file boxes. I was on a mission of sorts. I wanted to find the remnants of the writings I’d done (in some cases nearly 28 years ago), and had somehow, almost miraculously, kept. I first found my old football practice uniform, [...]

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