The Opposite of Writers Block

With short stories, I don't really suffer from writer's block. I'm coming up with ideas all of the time. My dreams supply me with great material. I come up with ideas in the shower quite often. Sometimes I'll read a newspaper article and be hit with a new idea. With fiction my mind is on overdrive. I'm constantly thinking of names and places and how best to describe events. With short stories, I'm ready to explode with ideas. I go back and look at the stories I wrote and can think of three ways to improve each of them. I can sit down and just start typing and a story will come to me.

But with column writing it's a different story. I write opinion columns so they need a point of view. The subject matter has to be interesting. It has to be interesting to me or it's not going to be interesting to the reader. I also like my columns to be timely. A good many columnists write on universal subjects and themes, and they're probably smarter than me because that means they can write a slew of columns ahead of time. I prefer to be topical. I like being relatively current because I feel it gives my writing some crackle. But having a deadline and having parameters set by my editor on my subject matter makes newspaper writing more difficult. I'm more likely to end up sitting before a blank screen for hours.

My iPinion column is different in that I have a far wider selection of subject matter. I have a very accomdodating editor and great supportive colleagues. With so many talented writers at iPinion it forces me to raise my game. I don't want to phone it in. And let's be honest, it happens. I think it happens in any profession. Some days or weeks, you're just not feeling it. I can picture some teacher sitting at his desk overwhelmed by his students, wondering if they're even paying attention and not being able to keep his mind off of a summer trip to Cabo. Sometimes we're just not feeling up to doing our jobs. I don't like to half-ass it. I don't like looking back at my work and cringing. So I try to hit at least a triple with it, if I can't hit a homerun.

But I don't have a lot of time for fiction writing either because I have a nonfiction work I'm doing and I'm trying to promote my first two books. The business side of it is so much different than the creative side. I'm an artsy fartsy type of guy. Crunching numbers, gladhanding, promoting...that stuff definitely isn't my strong suit but I know it's all part of what I have to do to be successful.

When I have writers block it's best to get up from the puter. Go for a walk. I'd say for a drive but have you seen gas prices? Read something. Eat something. Listen to music. Definitely listening to music because it can quickly change your state of mind.

In fact, I'm writing this while suffering from writer's block on my newspaper column! Now back to work.

FROM DREAM to REALITY

Today, the article by Heather Ah San ran in the Fairfield Daily Republic. She and I had a great conversation last week about my books and writing, in general. She seemed genuinely interested

People probably think of me as a terribly opinionated guy since I write an opinion column. But I didn't start off wanting to be an opinion columnist. I've always loved telling stories. To my thinking, it's the opinion writing that is the anomaly, not the fiction.

Hopefully, this article will introduce me to readers who don't regular read my column. Maybe it'll encourage folks to give my books a look even if they disagree with me 90% of the time in my opinion columns. Everyone loves a good story.

I've generally leaned towards horror growing up but the stories in these two books aren't really horror. A couple of them are. Certainly, some stories are dark. But my two favorite stories are just literary tales. My favorite story in volume one is "Godshot." In volume two, my favorite tale is "Dignity Tickets." I think these stories would appeal to anyone. Of course, I'm biased.

Back to the article...Daily Republic photographer Brad Zweerink took photos for the story. It was his idea to have me gazing off into the distance. While it may seem like I'm contemplating something deep I'm really thinking, "How many more of these shots do we need to take? My knee's killing me."

Brad was great. Although right before I left I asked him if they had Photoshop and could make me look like Denzel. He assured me they did and they would. Man, I look like I ate Denzel. Oh well...

I did do a lot of writing during Mrs. Goodsell's and Ms. Gambrill's class at Grange. At Armijo I graduated to using composition notebooks to write my stories. I used to write during Mr. Scherr's english class, Mr. Kenny's short story class and Ms. Keys' Creative Writing class. The stories I wrote in Creative Writing were so scary and disturbing that Ms. Keys said they gave her nightmares! I considered that a compliment. I learned how to type in Ms. Klinghoffer's typing class solely so I could use her class to type stories.

Some of the stories in the two books stem from a couple old mid-nineties thing I created called "Iniquity." I've since updated the stories for Morsels. Some of them were written in the mid 2000's. And others were new, written after my hospital stay. Lying in a dimly lit room in ICU your life really comes into sharp focus. It was the worst hospital stay I'd ever had and it was the first time that I thought I might not walk out of there. An incompetent doctor had me on medications that interacted and shut down my kidneys. I had an infection at the same time and the whole thing temporarily elevated my blood sugar, so I had to be treated with insulin (even though I'm not diabetic.). There were a myriad of things going on and the doctor was concerned I would develop sepsis. I remember looking out the window at a big old tree, wondering how long it had been there. Wondering if it would outlive me. Thinking about the things I'd done in my life and the things I wanted to do. And I knew I needed my stories to be out there. It's like a legacy. It was that important to me. The stories are like my kids. They would carry on long after my days were done.

But at the same time, I'm not pretentious about it. I just want people to read them and enjoy them. It's escape. This isn't stone tablets with instructions from the Almighty I'm bringing down from a mountain. They're stories to help you enjoy your time while in the doctor's waiting room or you're on the train or plane or whatever. And maybe they'll make you think.

Big thanks to Glen Faison, Brad Stanhope, Heather Ah San and Brad Zweerink for putting this together and giving me the opportunity to reach people with my writing.

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New Article on Morsels

I did an interview with Heather Ah San with the Fairfield Daily Republic today and tomorrow I will go in for a photo shoot for an article set to run on Saturday, February 18th. I'm excited that my hometown paper is doing a story on my work. Heather did a thorough job with her questions and I hope it spreads the word. I want as many people as possible to experience Morsels: Twisted tales of Life and Death Vol. 1 and 2. Together, they comprise 28 unique stories that you won't soon forget.

FREE STORY: "GREENLIGHT" from MORSELS VOL. 1

Hello. I've decided to record an audio version of the first story in MORSELS: Twisted Tales of Life and Death Vol. 1. It's a story entitled, "Greenlight." This is the complete story and runs almost a half an hour long so make yourself comfortable, maybe put on some headphones and listen. Both volumes of Morsels can be purchased at BarnesandNoble.com, Amazon.com and iTunes. Print versions can be purchased here.