Quote of the Day

For short story writers in his class, the requirement was one story, ten to fifteen pages in length.  For people who wanted to write a novel–I think there must have been one or two of these souls–a chapter of around twenty pages, along with an outline of the rest.  The kicker was that this one [...]

Fornicating.

There was some reason I felt compelled to grab my laptop from my desk, while still in bed at 3am, last night.  I was musing over the remnants of an episode of Californication, and trying to wound down the evening at 3am with a book. Ruth Fowler’s book, No Man’s Land, about stripping in New [...]

This week’s advice: “Starving Artist” is bullshit.

From “Factotum,” by Charles Bukowski. 
I remembered my New Orleans days, living on two five-cent candy bars a day for weeks at a time in order to have leisure to write.  But starvation, didn’t improve art. It only hindered it. A man’s soul was rooted in his stomach. A man could write much better after eating a [...]

Today’s Advice

Comes from Brian K. Vaughan:
If they made it, it’s a only a matter of time before I make it. It seems like a simple and obvious thing, but I have to say, that was right before the time Y (the Last Man) and The Hood. It was such a change in outlook where you stop [...]

Saturday Advice

I’ve come home for Memorial Day, to see Indiana Jones for all of six dollars with my family. On my ride home last night I finished David Mamet’s Bambi vs Godzilla book. The book is a commentary on his experiences in the movie business, there was one particular chapter that I thought was good [...]

Writer Strike NYC

Today is the third day of the Writer’s Strike. Things are ugly, filthy, and cold here in New York City.
If you made your way from the E train to Rockefeller Center you would see the entire road between the Skating Rink and NBC Studios completely blocked off by picketing writers. You would see [...]

Running With Buffalo

This is the first novel by Michael Farrell, fellow St. Bonaventure Journalism grad, and older brother to the girlfriend of one of my best friends from college, Brendan.
Mike graduated from Bonas when Brendan and I were wee-freshmen climbing up the social ladder and trying to figure out where we were in life. (Some things don’t [...]

Justify Your Existence

I’ve been reading Wil Wheaton’s Just a Geek since Thursday and a lot of the stuff he’s been writing about for years now has been very similar to what I’ve been writing for three years now. Except for a few distinct differences in my life, like y’know, I was never famous at any point in [...]

Recovery.

When I had heard from Shadowline this time last week, I forwarded the email from Jim Valentino to TJB and my Dad.  TJB immediately calls wondering if I was standing on top of a ledge contemplating a swan dive off the Brooklyn Bridge into the East River.
What surprised me, but not him, was that I [...]

Hi, name is —-. Next time say hello.

From my notebook:
Happy April Fool’s Day! I always make it a point to avoid at all costs friends or people on this day. There was a reason why I almost won “Most Gullible,” my senior year of high school.
Currently I’m sitting in my coffee shop, M. Rohrs. I’ve bene thinking about doing an essay on [...]