The Mind of a Struggling Writer

My family started a tradition a year or so ago. We are all spread across the states of Kentucky, Indiana, and Florida that it is hard to get everyone together. So we decided to do a few big family get together meals a year, aside from the major holidays. Tonight we went to the always awesome Mark's Feed Store. But an incident happened that has been running in my head all night. My uncle Kenny suffers from Parkinson's disease. For those that don't know it is a disease that attacks the nervous system and wreaks havoc on the person's ability to move. Two famous people who are sufferers of this disease are the boxer Muhammad Ali and the actor Micheal J. Fox. Though the disease is treatable to an extend, there is no cure at this time. So two incidents happened as we at. We were all eating and sharing stories. I was ragging on Zack, my younger cousin who I always make a point to give crap to because he is younger version of me. My sister was telling a funny story about my...

The Olympic Apartment Building

One of the hardest things I find when trying to do my own writing is finding free time to sit down and write. With work, school, exercise, and trying to maintain a social life it can be hard to find a few hours to actually sit down and write. That is when I figured out what I was doing wrong. I don't need to try and schedule hours of time to sit down and write (at least not until I can get paid to do it for a living). Instead I just look at when I have some actual down time form the things I have to do. Even if it is only twenty or thirty minutes a day I try to get something down on paper. I have made a habit of watching a ball game with my laptop in arms reach so I can try to knock out a few paragraphs during commercials or half-time. And in the world of smartphones, any time I have an idea of something I jot down a note to myself so I don't forget it. I've even been guilty if emailing myself from work when an idea hits me. So remember, it is not the quantity of time t...

I know a lot of people have written or talked about what they were doing or how they felt 12 years ago when a handful of angry men fly airplanes into buildings and killed several thousands of innocent people. I have read some people's social media posts where they want to use the 9/11 attacks as an excuse to attack religion, or to promote conspiracy theories, or they decide to speak out about their indifference since it "didn't effect them". Well, here's my 9/11 story. It was my first year at the University of Louisville. I had walked into my Campus Culture class (one of those bullshit classes they require freshmen to take to learn how to write paper). As class was getting ready to start one of the guys that was in ROTC came in and said a plane had hit the World Trade Center. There was little reaction at first. My first thought was one of those small private planes had hit a floor of the tower; things like that had happened before. It was sad, but we went about ...

Well, the break from class wasn't as productive as I would have liked. Made some headway on a few projects, nothing finished though. The goal now is to try to at least get a few paragraphs or pages written daily. A few pieces are almost done, some are in their infancy, and others have miles to go before I'm through. I did get a good draft of In the Name of the Father done. The first chapter is on this this blog. A good friend of mine is in the process of proofreading and editing for me. I hope to have something ready in the next few months. I also began work on my book that I want to do about vanishing tattoo cultures around the world. It is only in the research phase, but I have found a lot of good information. That is probably one of the best things I can tell someone who is trying to take on the task of being a writer. Be a reader and a researcher. You never know where something you read will take you. It can spark an idea for book, a story, a poem, or who knows whatever....