The Doubting Writer Blog
Word Nerd Monday: Ruggedized
Last week, while reading through a Request for Applications for grant funds put forth by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, I came across something completely unexpected. In a section describing what grant funds could be spent on,
Slumping
David Pastrnak is a talented, All-Star right winger for the Boston Bruins who won over the fans in Boston from day one for moments like this: …and for moments like this: Pastrnak has developed into a tremendous hockey player. After
Reading List, 2018, Part Final
Hello again! A week later, happy 2019. I hope all of you had an enjoyable holiday season. I was fortunate to have two plus weeks off at the holidays, owing to the fact that I needed to burn a bunch
Time off
On Friday, we went and picked up the Catbird at college for her college recess. It’s nice to have her home. My wife figured it out, we’re down to four more round trips to do this, maybe as little as
“I think there’s a play there!”
Monty Python’s Flying Circus once featured a skit in which a well-dressed, professional looking young man named Ken (Eric Idle) returns to the home of his parents, where he receives a warm welcome from his mother (Terry Jones), but hostility
Elevation: A quasi review
Well, a little late today, but better late than never, right? Let’s hope so, anyway. I actually had some partially-written posts going, but when my alarm went off this morning I turned it off–then woke up forty minutes later and
Gone Fishing
We’re still picking at the remains of Thanksgiving dinner here at my house, still delighting in turkey and stuffing (a once a year thing), sweet potato casserole and apple crisp. Thanksgiving is, in many ways, the loveliest of holidays, both
Finally
It finally happened. On Saturday morning, after inserting and feathering in an 810-word sequence, I sent off my manuscript to that “one more reader.” I kind of wanted to feel like Rocky running up the steps while training; I felt
Almost there
I’ll admit it, I’m a little disappointed in myself. I was hoping to be done by now, but when I finished working on The Weighty Tome yesterday, I was on page 376 of what is now just 400 manuscript pages.
More Revising
Hoorah, hoorah! Two weeks ago, I finally reached the last page of my WiP! When I pushed back from my desk two Mondays ago, I had cut some 14,000 words from my bloated epic. Perhaps more important than pure word
A note
This morning, I quick wrote a post about writing. At the close of it, I wanted to acknowledge the terrible events of the last week (pipe bombs, synagogue shooting), but I did not wish to relegate them to a footnote
The dreaming brain
Once, many years ago, I woke from a dream about….I don’t remember what. What I do remember about the dream is that someone or something was tapping. On a door, maybe. On a floor. I don’t remember who it was
The end draws ever closer
When I left off my manuscript yesterday evening, I was on page 365, just shy of 110,000 words. On the pages I printed out to help me with my revision, I’m on page 386, exactly 40 pages from THE END.
Reading List, 2018, Part III
Technically, the end of the quarter was last week, but I chose to delay this post based on events in the world. Here are the list of books for the third quarter (July 1-September 30). Wolf Season (2017), Helen Benedict.
Another year, another post like this
I may have told you this story before. Perhaps not. Whatever the case, I’m not sure what it is about this time of year that seems to bring this sort of thing out. Last year around now, I was writing
Why did I bother?
I knew better. I knew better, and I did it anyway. Last week, a Facebook friend of a very conservative nature posted a graphic on Facebook. Unlike his usual postings, it wasn’t even a share, it was a graphic he’d
What a mess I’ve made
Shortly after Agent Carrie and I parted ways earlier this year, I completed a draft (a sort of second draft, maybe something like a 1-1/2 draft) of a new manuscript I was quite excited about. The problem? It was big.
Today’s Recommended Reading
I came across this powerful piece in The Guardian last week. It is disturbing to say the least that we are staring down the same things–rampant nationalism, racism, authoritarianism–that we faced eighty-plus years ago. It disturbs me even more that
Breaking Bad Revisited
Back in early August, I found myself home alone for an extended weekend, due to a work requirement that coincided with a family event. Sunday afternoon found me too physically tired to mow the lawn or do much around the
RIP, John McCain
The late Senator John McCain was not a perfect man. No one is. He may not even have been quite the maverick we all believed him to be (McCain voted with Trump 83% of the time, which included greenlighting all
Just to clarify
In the wake of Rudy Giuliani’s statement this weekend that “truth isn’t truth”: * Fake news: Real news: Get the difference? *Link is to the entire interview. Fast forward to 9:00 for the “truth isn’t truth” section.
An End of One Thing
Just about three years ago, I was fortunate to begin an unpaid gig writing a monthly column for one of the weekly newspapers in the county. We’re fortunate here, to have no less (fewer? I can never remember the proper
Disaster strikes
A couple of days ago, my wife and I were coming home from…somewhere, I don’t remember where, exactly. As we came down the road in front of my house I looked up my graceful sweep of overgrown lawn and sat
Off the map
I did something yesterday I hadn’t done in two weeks. I wrote. And it felt good. I’ve been working on revisions to my latest Mighty Tome, trying in particular to shorten and tighten the narrative, especially in the front end,
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