The thought blew my brain off the road and filled me with youthful joy. There I was, innocently listening to Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography Born to Run, as the guy from the Jersey Shore talked about how, when he reassembled the E Street Band around 1999, he didn’t want the tour to be the stereotypical oldiesContinue reading “When your heart is in it”
Category Archives: Creativity
A descent into madness
Write anything until you write something, I have said. Some days I sit down to manipulate words and write gibberish, the words barely making sense in the combinations I’m forming. I suppose “stream of consciousness” is one phrase for it. But I soldier on, and more often than not, at some point the ducks lineContinue reading “A descent into madness”
Fred and Benny show up
“Some days you got nothing, but you show up anyway,” Fred said. The words just hung there waiting for a nod or a blink or a wink, but Benny had nothing, either. “I got nothing, either,” Benny said. Benny stared at Fred, and Fred stared at Benny. “What do you want to do about it?”Continue reading “Fred and Benny show up”
10 years gone
Ray Bradbury died June 5, 2012, 10 years ago today. As you might expect if you’ve spent more than 5 minutes with me, that one hit me hard. I always wanted to be Ray Bradbury when I grew up, or Paul Harvey, or Lester Dent, or e.e. cummings … but mostly Ray Bradbury. I wantedContinue reading “10 years gone”
W.B.’s Book Report: DO Quit Your Day Job
I recently ripped through a book about writing called DO Quit Your Day Job by Christina F. York, a writer who tried to devote her newly earned retirement to the creative life, with mixed success. She has good things to say about making time in your day to create. (She is the one who foundContinue reading “W.B.’s Book Report: DO Quit Your Day Job”
Not just stolen moments
“Art is not meant to be created in stolen moments only.” — Clarissa Pincola Estes, quoted in DO Quit Your Day Job by Christina F. York At the end of a tedious day full of tedium, three-hour meetings, a frustrating puppy class, and a lame 45-minutes-lost-forever TV drama, I reach into what’s left of myContinue reading “Not just stolen moments”
Genius needs no formula
We who aim to write stories study formulas — we dissect a story and consider ways we can recreate the effect by emulating the way great writers do — the Hero’s Journey, the Three-Act Structure, four acts, five acts, whatever. But what if sometimes a writer just writes and writes and writes and gets soContinue reading “Genius needs no formula”
Warren Bluhm 