Workspace

3,697 Days (and Counting)

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For over ten years, or 3,697 days to be exact, I’ve been working on a novel about teens in the 1980s. The novel eventually became so long (over a million words, and twice the length of War and Peace) that I had to split it into nine books or episodes. The result, Bodaciously True & … Read more

The Social Distancing Champion Thrives in the Pandemic

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I have a T-shirt with a quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald on it. The quote reads, “You don’t write because you want to say something. You write because you have something to say.” This is the reason why I so seldom write blog entries: because I usually don’t have anything to say. Well, now that … Read more

The Inspiration of New Places and New Spaces for a Novelist

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For a novelist, sometimes a minuscule change in routine, place or living situation can produce a massive shift in perspective that opens the floodgates of creativity. Having moved over 40 times in my 49 years, I’ve experienced this phenomenon often in my writing life. In June 2010, having been back in my high school town … Read more

On the Virtues of Being Able to Write Anywhere

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Compared to other novelists I know or have read about, I’m something of an anomaly: I’m a novelist who can write just about anywhere. While I enjoy having a dedicated space for my writing, an actual home office, “a room of one’s own” as Virginia Woolf put it, I’m not one of those precious novelists … Read more

Writing in Asian Restaurants

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I’m writing this blog entry in one of my favorite Asian restaurants: Momiji in Rhinebeck, NY. I’m not exactly sure why, but I’ve been writing in Asian restaurants for over 25 years. Maybe it’s that when Chinese or Japanese waitresses get talking in their native tongues, their voices take on a soothing quality, surrounding me … Read more

My Prodigiously Convoluted Yet Miraculously Productive Low-Tech Writing Process — Part 1

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I’m writing this blog entry on my latest piece of low-tech equipment, an Olivetti Lettera 32 typewriter. All told, I now have six typewriters: • The Lettera 32           • A Royal Quiet Deluxe           • An Olympia SM9 Deluxe           • An … Read more

Backstory: The Story Behind Perpetuating Trouble

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The opening sentence of Perpetuating Trouble is absolutely true: “I was told to write this book by a pair of alien girls.” That incident with the alien girls, along with everything else in my memoir about the writing life, really happened. Enter a Pair of Alien Girls On a glittering October morning in 2008, I … Read more

Perpetuating Trouble: I’m Livin’ the Dream! Or Am I?

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I’m pleased to announce the release of my personal memoir about the writing life, Perpetuating Trouble. I’ve been working on this book on and off since 2008, and am finally ready to send it into the world. If you’d like to read more about the memoir, check out this link, or simply read the press release … Read more

Out with the Old, In with the New

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A New Year demands new writing projects and a new workspace. And since I’m a writer who is deeply inspired or discouraged by his environment, I need a workspace that has a lot of inspirational quotes, pictures and objects around me when I work. Look closely and you can find all of my talismans and inspirational … Read more