3,697 Days (and Counting)
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…
Climbers on Mt. Everest at the base of the Hillary Step.
It Always Seems Impossible Until It’s Done
Greetings, Dear Reader. I’m dictating this blog entry while walking on my treadmill, so please excuse me if I ramble or my “smart” phone substitutes…
The Nuclear Submarine U.S.S. Bodacious Resurfaces After Six Months of “Deep and Silent”
About five months ago, I bought a countdown clock that sits directly below my computer monitor, and for 157 days it’s been ticking down. It’s…
The Social Distancing Champion Thrives in the Pandemic
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.…
The Inspiration of New Places and New Spaces for a Novelist
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…
The Post-Social Media Novelist
It’s only been a week since I “deactivated” my personal Facebook account and already I feel like a great weight has been lifted off my…
On the Virtues of Being Able to Write Anywhere
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…
Writing in Asian Restaurants
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…
My Prodigiously Convoluted Yet Miraculously Productive Low-Tech Writing Process — Part 2 — With a Few Modest Writing Secrets
In the first installment of this piece, I described the first half of my writing process: Writing the first draft in longhand or on a…
My Prodigiously Convoluted Yet Miraculously Productive Low-Tech Writing Process — Part 1
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: •…
Backstory: The Story Behind Perpetuating Trouble
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…
Being a Novelist Isn’t a Job, It’s a Lifestyle
Back in December, after having completed the first draft of a 550,000-word, 1,600-page novel, I took a nearly month-long vacation (my first in years). For…
WANTED: A 21st Century Author Promoter
I love writing. I love sitting down with half a dozen fresh Blackwing 602 pencils, sharpening them to a razor edge and filling up pages…
Only Have Time for Essentials
“At 46 one must be a miser; only have time for essentials.” — Virginia Woolf, diary, 3/22/1928 I stumbled upon this quotation earlier this week.…
Why This 2016 Writer is Going to the Woods
When Henry David Thoreau went to the woods by Walden Pond in Concord, Mass. in 1845, he had his own, somewhat convoluted, reasons for doing…
Out with the Old, In with the New
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,…
Me and My Montblanc
This is the very short story of a man and his pen. Around 1988, when I went to college to study philosophy, my forward-thinking uncle,…
A Short Documentary on Why I Write in Pencil
Back in February, my documentary filmmaker friend Jason Scott created a short documentary about me any my use of pencils for writing first drafts. The…
My Radio Interview on “Murders, Mysteries and Mayhem”
Today my interview on the Murders, Mysteries and Mayhem program (part of the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network) aired, and it was a…
Chris Orcutt & Dakota Stevens Hit the Airwaves
Today, I’m in my first-ever radio interview. I haven’t heard the completed, edited version yet, so you can bet I’m going to tune in to…
My Writing Secret Weapon
For as long as I’ve been writing—over 20 years professionally now—I’ve collected articles on writing, handwritten snatches from books on writing, examples from great authors,…
What I Learned While Publishing the Dakota Stevens Series on Kindle
What did I learn from publishing the first novel in my new detective series on Kindle? A lot of disjointed things that would take too…
The Dilemma of the 21st Century Writer
I had big plans for this blog entry. BIG plans. When I originally envisaged this piece, it was going to be a 5,000-word polemic on…
Index Cards Are Sexy
I’d like to share some thoughts about index cards. My new writing, with the exception of blog entries of course, is happening on index cards. The…
On the Virtues of Typewriters and Pencils
Here’s the thing with pencils and typewriters—they never go out of date, they never need updated software, and they never require virus protection. Three years…