I often identified my master’s degree by the common term MFA (Master of Fine Arts), but it is time, once and for all, to own my MPW (Master of Professional Writing). For those of you unfamiliar, the traditional English MFA in creative writing requires the student to specialize in one genre, either fiction or poetry, […]
“The War of the Worlds”
I have one Halloween tradition that I’ve engaged in every year since college, which is to listen to Orson Welles’ 1938 radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds,” about a Martian invasion of New Jersey. The show is a wonderful bit of entertainment and a stellar example of classic fiction adapted for the auditory […]
Destroying Pages
I came across some old writing notebooks from high school and college. The assortment of prose, poetry, and story ideas were so bad, so stuck in their time, that I did something I couldn’t bring myself to do before: destroy the pages. I’d kept these books for years because they contained my writing, my penmanship, […]
If You Received Strange Blog Posts…
Don’t worry. The machines are taking over. Actually, I had some corrupted data on my website and decided to rebuild the whole thing last night. It took about five hours to reassemble all the pieces. I wanted a clean install to make sure none of the damaged code remained. If you receive blog updates via […]
History of the Aspect Ratio (and How it Relates to Publishing)
As I throw on my film buff and projectionist hat, I’d like to share an awesome video I came across on the history of the aspect ratio. If you’ve ever wondered why film and video come in different sizes—or aspect ratios, the numerical relation between the image’s height and width—various technical and business developments explain […]
Authors and the United States Constitution
The United States Constitution is one of my favorite works ever written. I don’t hold it in high regard simply because I am an American, although I am fortunate and proud to be a citizen of this country. Rather, the clarity of thought and purpose this document embodies is so wholly impressive that I cannot […]
Best. Notebook. Ever.
Writers trade in ideas. That’s why we always carry a pad and pen because we’re never sure we can recreate the exact phrasing—or remember the idea at all—at a later date. By extension, we’re paranoid about losing our work. So, imagine my panic when I not only misplaced my notebook but found it in the dryer […]
Outcome vs. Process
One of the concepts related to my recent pursuit of getting back to basics is outcome versus process. A book or a script is the outcome, but the act of writing is the process. The final result occupies such a small space compared to the weeks, months, and sometimes years spent actually creating that result. […]
Fiction Fridays on Hiatus
After fifteen weeks of posting a new short story every Friday, I’m announcing that my Fiction Fridays series is going on hiatus. I appreciate all the kind feedback I’ve received from readers such as yourself, but this project—at least for now—has satisfied its objective. The key win here was to boost my creativity to complete […]