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Purposeful Heart Energy—

My tendency is to focus on the love struck. Because I enjoy characters struggling with problems their emotions cause.

Those Sucking Sounds

The Puzzle Solved I would be more comfortable with the trade negotiations now taking place if the titans of industry were bellyaching. I don’t hear them complaining about the labor provisions. I don’t hear them bitching about the environmental regulations they would have to obey. I haven’t heard word one about currency manipulation. What the […]

So How Come YOU Know So Much?

“The airline industry has spent untold millions on quieter airplanes and noise mitigation around airports. Telecoms lose money on the copper wire landlines maintained to comply with universal-service requirements. If corporations want to dance in the discothèque, there’s a cover charge called the public good.” Rumble Seat, Dan Neil (My Favorite Auto Feature Writer) May […]

The Greatest Human Folly of All Time

“There is a bottleneck in human history. The human condition is going to change. It could be that we end in a catastrophe or that we are transformed by taking much greater control over our biology. “It’s not science fiction, religious doctrine or a late-night conversation in the pub. “There is no plausible moral case […]

Sustainable Comedy and the Folly of Capitalism

For years, economists have posited that prosperity requires growth, with environmental damage as the regrettable but unavoidable consequence. A growing number of critics are now challenging this equation, though, calling for a radical revamping of the economic system. Nils Klawitter My Cowboy Cadillac and the Place I’ve Called Home for Near Four Decades I’ve […]

When Time Stood Still

Speed as Histrionics I set out on the outline of Hot Spring Honeymoon on January 1, 2012. I’d finished Bankrupt Heart in June of 2011. By finish I mean the manuscript was completed and the only thing left was to scrub the thing for errors in spelling and grammar. I rested my imaginations muscle for […]

Close Your Eyes and You’ll Miss YOU…Tomorrow I’ll….

Blinded By the Light… What is your narrative? How much of the story do you know by heart? How much of your narrative remains hidden from you? Thought experiment! “I’ll never get that job. I’m no good at math. I’m always late.” Some of our narratives are harmless while others are not. […]

Fill in the Blanks

After drafting a new chapter I return to the previous three. I’m keeping a sharp lookout for a drop off in energy. It may come from going too long on a topic not central to the plot. I have something like sixteen separate scenes in the four chapters. So, I will break up […]

Comedy as Balancing Act

Comedy requires concision. As I’ve been building my story I’ve had to battle filling in enough narrative to make the mind’s eye see the scene while maintaining the pace of the story so as not to derail the momentum. It is a brutal dance of first building the chapter and then removing anything that does […]

Sunday aboard our Sailboat

What about a gentle breeze, warm sun and our dear friends Lori and RJ aboard our yacht Sweet Seas for an afternoon of conversation? While basking in the light, dining on guacamole, eating enlightened chips… toss in a beer, a glass of wine, steady beats from our favorite jazz station…. We do a […]