ŷ������

over at said ::

As Mark 9 and I thought through the best way to share the tenth(+) anniversary release of Cold Brewed into print, we realized the tiniest fraction of this audience saw it live online when we released it in our early twenties. We decided to re-release it serially online, since it doesn’t format well for e-readers outside of […]

Read more posts like "" at .

over at said ::

When my dad hooked back up with the babysitter he���d originally cheated on mom with, my siblings and I didn���t hear from him for a month. I was eating at a Texas barbecue joint a block from Times Square when that carpenter and millwright finally returned all of my ignored calls. I paced in the […]

Read more posts like "" at .

over at said ::

Three case studies on pieces of mine that were rejected often prior to publication as well as a list of typical reasons for rejection, intended as a metaphor for life. They answer to “Why they rejected you�� is simpler than it seems: I find it a shock at this stage in life that I have […]

Read more posts like "" at .

over at said ::

Dear JB Pritzker —�� Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this (and for all of you who shared it widely enough to reach his desk). I write to you today on behalf of a subject nearest and dearest to my heart: Little Egypt, Southern Illinois during historic floods. If you’re reading this and not JB, […]

Read more posts like "" at .

over at said ::

A decade ago, Mark Neuenschwander (photographer of these photos) and I delved the secret tunnels beneath Joplin, Missouri���s downtown district. We delved the Joplin tunnels with the knowledge of a couple members of City Hall. We had prior experience:��do not delve these tunnels. Do not risk your life. They are��extremely��dangerous when there is any hint […]

Read more posts like "" at .

over at said ::

My colleague and friend Dr. Shane J. Wood wrote a piece recently on Pride that reflects the state of my mind the last few years. I started this piece as a comment on his work and once it eclipsed 1,000 words, well�� here we are. It seems to me part of the problem in our attempt to distinguish […]

Read more posts like "" at .

over at said ::

“What is an antagonist�� originally sold to Writer’s Digest as “An Outline for Pantsers.�� Teasing out the logic of an antagonist helps me understand how to outline both works I’m writing and works I’m trying to research or remember. We’re focusing on narrative works today, to be clear. Fiction, narrative poetry, memoir, film, etc. Though […]

Read more posts like "" at .

over at said ::

“What is a Poem�� was Originally published in the Poet’s Market by Writer’s Digest Books under the title “Schematic for Sculpting Language.�� As a young man, I complained I didn’t get poetry. The poetry world seemed broken in two: those who rhymed and those who didn’t. Rhymers chose their path either out of too much ignorance (“all I […]

Read more posts like "" at .

over at said ::

I have often said though I cannot directly recommend George R.R. Martin���s��Song of Ice and Fire, if I discover you���ve read it, I���m happy to talk about it at length. Similarly, I personally will never watch the TV show��Game of Thrones because I���m painfully aware, after how I spent my late teens, there are simply […]

Read more posts like "" at .

over at said ::

I’ve thought about religions in fantasy, scifi, and speculative fiction more and more over the past year. It has started to bug me that I’m not finding a more formalized piece on fantasy religions out there �� religions in fantasy and science fiction worlds. As is often the rule in all creative acts, when you […]

Read more posts like "" at .