Let’s play a game! A what-if guessing game. What if all your dreams came true in the New Year? What if, instead, your worst nightmares actually happened? What is something you’d never imagine befalling you and what if that very thing occurred? I know. I know. The zen-ists find it terribly unfashionable to play such… Continue reading The Pinball Plot
Tag: aiki writing
Get Lost: A Story for Writers Who Haven’t Found Their Way
When a girl goes camping all by herself, as I did this past weekend, she is bound to undergo at least one significant spiritual transformation, or discover at least one profound truth about her inner self. I will share with you one of the profundities I discovered—maybe the greatest one: I do not own a… Continue reading Get Lost: A Story for Writers Who Haven’t Found Their Way
Stoke the Soul Fires
You see that up there? White space. Blank, empty, open page. Writers face (and curse) that every day. “What?” The vast white screen chins at us. Aggressive. Challenging. Mocking. What are we going to put on it? What ideas, characters, settings, emotions are we daring to scrawl on that pristine open void? It’s… Continue reading Stoke the Soul Fires
Edit Like Jack the Ripper
Jack o’ lanterns are assembling on stoops and driveways like plump neighbors gossiping, grinning, sneering, and gawking at the neighborhood goings’on. Spiders of all sizes, hairiness, and sparkliness lurk over every window and doorway. Bats, ghouls, mummies, Frankenstein monsters, vampires, and witches form monstrous lawn menageries. That can only mean…IT’S OCTOBER!!! Time to indulge in our fanciful fears!… Continue reading Edit Like Jack the Ripper
Radical Approaches to Writing, Pt. 5
When last I posted on the Radical Approaches to Writing series, I was prepping for my Ikkyu (brown belt) exam in aikido. To pass, I had to master over 140 hand-to-hand combat techniques. Essentially, it’s like a really long kinesthetic multiple choice test. How would you respond if someone attacks you by… grabbing your arm, grabbing… Continue reading Radical Approaches to Writing, Pt. 5
