Onward and Upward

07Oct

My apologies for the long absence. That’s just the way my life is at this point in time–first you see me, then you don’t. Then you see me, then you don’t.

Mini-Masterclass – Tana French

28Jul

In life’s cracks, I’ve been absorbing as much fiction as I can and taking note of the experts at work. Any of the great writers will tell you that to write well, you gotta read well. With that in mind, I decided it would be fun to share some of the stuff I come across that seems worth studying in …

Perfection’s Just a State of Mind

23Jul

With my son passed out on the couch, my wife and I spent an evening watching a TV show called Breaking the Band. While illuminating, it tends to tell the same three-act story: Band forms,  Band excels, Band dies. There are all sorts of reasons for this. Pressures leading to drug and alcohol abuse. Tragic accidents. But the seemingly number …

Colin Mobey’s Leadership Coaching

22Jul

I wanted to take a moment to spread the word about Colin Mobey, my mate-from-across-the-pond, and in particular, Windward Coaching, his venture into leadership coaching. Colin’s been a loyal supporter of this blog for many years. He’s seen the varied struggles I’ve gone through and the wins that I’ve achieved. Lent the left ear when I’ve vented and the right …

What is Writing Well?

10Jul

After seeing a comment on my recent post from friend and prolific writer, Harvey Stanbrough, I realized that I didn’t do a very good job of defining what “writing well” actually means. Ironic, considering how Adler and Van Doren felt one of the keys to “reading well” was to come to terms with an author–in other words, what do certain …

Forming the Habit of Writing Well

06Jul

Knowing the rules of an art is not the same as having the habit. Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book In my scheduled reading time (because it needs to be scheduled–spare time doesn’t exist in my current incarnation 🙂 ), I’ve been re-reading one of my favorite books: How to Read a Book by …

Tiny Sparks

01Jul

I know this is just transitory, and therefore pretty meaningless in a sales sense, but it means the world to me to even see my name so close to Stephen King’s (not to mention his son’s). Even the tiniest spark can ignite a conflagration. -Phillip