Jeff O'Handley

The Doubting Writer Finds His Voice

Time for…

Yesterday morning, I spent a couple of hours drafting a couple of ideas for a post to run today. They weren’t quite complete posts, though, because they never are. Even when I really, really work at pre-writing a post, when I sit down on Monday morning to get it done here on the blog, it’s […]

Reading List, 2018 (Part I)

Howdy, folks. Can’t believe we’re already in the fourth month of 2018–time is flying! So, here’s the list of what I’ve read so far: The Education of Dixie Dupree (2016), Donna Everhart. I feel like I know Donna from around the blogosphere. I enjoyed this book, in as much as you can be said to […]

Fire forged

In one of my manuscripts, an unlikely hero steps up in a critical moment and saves his small town from sliding into chaos. Initially, he shrugs it off, telling another character, “Someone had to do something.” Later, in a moment of reflection after the dust has settled, he muses over what he’s done in relation […]

Random Thoughts

It’s been a tough week, capped off by the long drive to get the Catbird back to school from spring break. Here are some random thoughts: *Defenestrate is a great word, but, boy is it hard to work into everyday conversation. *There is nothing more optimistic in this world than a dog. *Waking up to […]

Another day…

…another winter weather advisory. Roughly a third of the snow that has fallen on my corner of the world has come down since March 1, according to the National Weather Service. It feels like this has been the case for at least the last four years or so. When we moved here 15 years ago, […]

In search of judgment

The greatest gift for every writer is judgment–Obari Gumba  Back in December, Agent Carrie and I had our annual strategy session, where we set the course for the upcoming year. One of the things Carrie wanted me to do, once I was finished writing the first draft of the WiP, was to take a new […]

Hello, Square One

Oh, hello, Square One, I…wasn’t expecting to see you here. How are you? It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Four years? Really, that long? Time flies, huh? Sorry I haven’t kept in touch, you know how it is. Well. I’d love to stay and hang out, but– Yeah, sure, we can hang out a little. […]

We’ve been here before

Recommended reading if you haven’t already run across it on Facebook or elsewhere: Fuck you, I like guns. I may have said this before, after some other school shooting, or a mass murder in a gay nightclub, or a massacre at a movie theater, but I’ll say it again: I’m not anti-gun. I don’t want […]

One of the big problems with this country, summed up in a single sentence

According to a story on CNN’s website this weekend, during a 2006 meeting with employees angered over a new rule that would force them to share tips with their supervisors, casino mogul Steve Wynn said this in response to a woman who stated the rule would cost her fifteen to twenty thousand dollars a year: […]

Musical Monday: Jackie Wilson said what?

It’s a Monday, there’s something like eight inches of snow on the ground (despite the forecast that told us we’d have half that, at most), and I’m kind of tired and achy, hoping it’s not something coming on. So, we’ll have some rather chipper music today! About two weeks back, I completely got Van Morrison’s […]