Writing

“The Feathered Tale of Talula Jones” is my thesis project for USC’s Master of Professional Writing program. It’s been an awesome experience, and to top it off, I’ve been fortunate enough to have writer/net-worker extraordinaire Gina Nahai (author of “Caspian Rain”) as my advisor. In Gina’s class a few weeks ago, my classmates and I […]

As it turns out, the best teacher I’ve had on the topic of avoiding cliché was my high school art teacher – Mr. Miller. He used to talk about the difference between symbols and art. A symbol, he said, is something like a stick figure. It conveys a basic idea, and keeps us from walking […]

Usually I write like a shark – always moving forward, never stopping. To stop would be death. If in the beginning of the story a character has blond hair, and half way through I decide she’s a brunet, I just start writing about her luscious dark locks. I never go back until the first draft […]

Whenever I hit a wall with my writing I feel a powerful urge to go out to the desert to do research. “The Feathered Tale of Talula Jones” is set in the California desert, and the last time I spent a day among the sand and sage brush, I had a major story revelation. The […]

I have heard many writers say that they love deadlines, that they don’t sit down to write unless they have one. I am not one of those people. I don’t like pressure, and I hate all-nighters. (If I’m going to be up all night there better be loud music and a fair amount of whiskey […]