The Mind of a Struggling Writer

My cousin posted this picture on Facebook where she drove by my grandparents' house. They passed away  about 20 or so years ago. The picture reminded me of a piece I wrote for a creative writing class I did in high school. My Grandparents’ House It was a place Of fun and joy Where I would run and play When I was a small boy. The smell of cedar And the aroma of honeysuckle. Old abandoned chicken coops Telling stories of games Of hide and seek. Long walks along the railroad tracks. Wet kisses on the cheek And “My how you’ve grown”. But now those halls are empty My grandparents are gone. No more games at the coops. No more playing in the field. But as I stand outside the house, White paint reflecting the summer sun, The wind picks up And the smell of cedar and honeysuckle Fills my nostrils. Tears well in my eyes, And a smile crosses my face.

It's an old sayings that has been drilled into students minds for years. Good writers read all the time. It sounds pretty arbitrary at first, but there is truly a ring of truth to it. There are several great reasons that reading helps in the creative process of being a good writer. First of all, you have to be able to do research on what you are writing. Even if it is a work of fiction, you want to make sure it is believable. If you are writing a historical novel, you should know the politics and culture of the time period to make it more believable. If you are writing a science fiction story on time travel, a basic idea of quantum mechanics is a good idea. And if you are writing a story based in a real location you should know something about the environment and geography about the area. Secondly, reading will make you a better writer by expanding your vocabulary and the way you write. You favorite authors style and sentence structure may influence the way you form your writin...

I love Shakespeare. Some of my favorite courses in college were English and theatre courses that required us to read and see Shakespeare's plays. Hell, I even wrote my graduate paper on three film versions of Hamlet . One thing I always love is when you see a director take one of the plays and reinterpret them. Setting Hamlet in a more modern time and place like Kenneth Branaugh (or the one with Ethan Hawke set in New York City , but that version sucked) brought a whole new perspective to the play. And while we're on the subject of Hamlet , the Lion King . Read the play and then follow the plot of the movie. Mind-blowing. Another thing I love is when non-English speaking directors take a stab at the plays. The famed Japanese director Kurosawa did probably the greatest reinvention of Macbeth when he did Throne of Blood and changed to setting to feudal Japan. The fact that he could take such traditional Japanese theatre troupes and make them fit with a 500 year old English ...

I'm a very big fan of George R.R. Martin. I read A Game of Thrones back in 1998 and have been a loyal reader of his books ever since. The entire series is so well written and has taken the fantasy genre into directions that had not really been done before. His need to make his world have a sense of realism--no fairies or elves in this world, just the occasional dragon--truly drew readers including myself into his world. With the HBO series, he has gained many new fans and readers. Sadly some of his decisions in where the story has gone so far has cost him readers and viewers.  Events that have happened to fan favorites, especially the Stark family, have caused some fans to express anger and outrage. Some fans have stated they won't watch the show anymore, nor read the books. Last night's episode which depicted the tragic Red Wedding is a prime example. I remember year ago reading that scene for the first time. I knew that Walder Frey would try to get some kind of reveng...

He took the shoebox down from his closet. Lifting the cardboard lid he began rummaging through the contents. Sifting thought the old Boy Scouts scarf and badges, stubs from concert tickets, souvenir buttons, and other keepsakes he took each item out of the box and placed them on his bed. Finally he found what he was looking for. The leather sheath was falling apart with age, but he still smiled as he ran his thumb along the edge. Two Japanese military daggers were placed inside. The handles were blue with an ivory dragon on one and a bird on the other. One dagger had a chip in the blue  that covered the handles. He unsheathed the blades and looked at the steel. The blades had dulled over time and brown specks spotted the blades; he never knew if it was blood or rust. His uncle had given him the military blades when he was younger. They had belonged to his grandfather when he served in the Pacific during World War II. He had served as a cook for his unit. The story was that he h...

I got some great news this weekend. Last Summer I was to be part of a writing project called Game of Thrones and History . It was to be a book comparing the television show and the books on which it is based with real events in medieval history. I was chosen to be a contributing writer to a chapter dealing with feasts and tournaments.  I spent several months pouring through books and articles, as well as watching the show and reading through the book series. Everything was going good to meeting my December deadline. Then we got an email from out editor, telling us that we had lost our publisher. It was a huge blow to me, as not only was I going to get a decent little check for my writing, but I would be my first publication. But, we had hope that we may get another publisher to pick us up. I stated my continued commitment and hoped that we would have a new publisher by March. As the months went on, my hopes of still getting this chapter published started to dwindle. Several tim...

Los Angeles defiantly lives up to its reputation as a crazy town. All walks of life are there, many dreaming of becoming something bigger and better. Though only a few achieve their dream of seeing their name in the marquee still many flock to the city in hopes of fulfilling their dreams. My friend Jon was one of these people. Jon moved to LA not too long after high school with the ambition of becoming a great actor. He had the passion and drive, and had some talent at it. He even got a part as an extra in the film Coach Carter . If you know where to look in a few scenes you can even see him.  Though he never made it big, he stuck it out for several years and lived the life of a struggling actor and musician. One year I had the chance to go visit him for a week. It was defiantly not what I was expecting. The trip almost started on a bad note; my flight was going to be delayed due to some weather and I had to reschedule my flight for the next morning. On...