Archive

  • When You Get Into Your Groove

    When You Get Into Your Groove

    It’s the most wonderful feeling in the world. You start writing, and you’re off to a rough start. You struggle, you groan, you’re on the verge of calling it a day. Then the words start to flow, one after the other. Bam. Bam. Bam. The prose is smooth, the dialogue is superb, and your story Read more

  • Writing About Tricksters

    I’ve talked about tricksters before, and nine months later, I realize I have more to say. Tricksters are fascinating to read about and to write about. They’re the weirdos who exist on the fringes of polite society. They’re the ones who can get away with what other people can’t. They’re stick their tongues out at Read more

  • A God Walks Up to the Bar – Excerpt Pt. 2

    This is the second half of my short story excerpt from A God Walks Up to the Bar. Go here to view the first half. — I walked into a scene right out of a 1930s gangster movie. Five men sat around a table playing cards, cigarette smoke hovering over them like angry clouds. The Read more

  • A God Walks up to the Bar – Excerpt

    Well, I’ve talked a lot about writing on this blog, but I’ve never actually posted any of my work yet. I thought today that I would post an excerpt from my first-ever published book, A God Walks Up to the Bar. It’s an anthology of five short stories, connected by a framing story, that details Read more

  • Every Story Has Its End … Hopefully

    What makes a story a story? What’s the fundamental element that every story has in common, regardless of genre, author, era, or medium? What is something that every, absolutely every, story must have in order to be a complete and whole narrative? The answer: It ends. “Oh, well done, Jake,” you might be thinking. “Congratulations, Read more

  • The Ups and the Downs: Thoughts on Emotions and Decision-Making

    The Ups and the Downs: Thoughts on Emotions and Decision-Making

    Funny thing, emotions. In the grips of an emotional high, we feel invincibility and never-ending optimism. Any choice we make is a good one and can only yield good things. And then, with a snap of the fingers and a blink of the eye, we plummet into the doldrums. Everything is wrong, and what can Read more