They say a watched pot never boils. They are right. In a hurry to cook spaghetti noodles, I’ve watched plenty of them and they never boil until you turn away. For me, as a writer, that pot is whatever book I’m working on. If I sit in front of the screen and I try to […]

All storytellers bump up against the same challenges: What world will their characters inhabit? Will the world be large or will the story focus on a narrow segment of it? If a narrow world, will there be a broad sampling of characters? What are the rules of engagement in this world? What outside forces will […]

He was born to parents that would never, could never, understand him. For all intents and purposes, he was an alien. His parents were normal enough and that was the problem, for something about the boy invited abnormal adults to feel comfortable in his presence. To explain: Normal enough means regularly smart, while abnormal adult […]

Thus spake the greatest romantic poet and writer of the nineteenth century. Victor Hugo; author of Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame; works of such political and emotional depth and certitude of man’s unchanging genetic condition, that for the better part of two centuries the sale of his books and tickets to mounted […]

I like to take books to my local Waffle House and read while I enjoy a leisurely breakfast. I must do it more often than I thought because when I showed up this morning, coffee was delivered before my butt was still cold from the seat as heat transfer had not yet occurred. That is to […]

The girl was born and raised in The South, yet knew nothing much of it as her attention was always focused on something else. The girl had heard of a great war that had once been fought over some issue…what was it? Oh, yes. Slavery. During a field trip in 5th Grade, she had even seen […]

The seed of every struggle is planted when a body gets its feelings hurt. Think Hitler and Mein Kampf, or his Great Struggle. The dude might have had some valid points, but his methodologies to effect change for the better did not work. His nose got out of joint producing a snotty snit that threw […]

Trashed out. In need of repair. Dingy paint, chipped. Floors, scratches showing clean wood through years of grime or squares of linoleum tiles searching for their place among empty patches of dried glue. Ceilings, smoke stained; bathtubs, ringed with mineral deposits clinging to God only knew whose old skin. Chicken coop out back, empty except […]

I’ve been asked how it is I plot my novels. The short answer is: I don’t, not really, kinda sorta somewhat not. The correct answer is: I have a general idea of story, but when my characters surprise me, my stories always benefit. In other words, I write like John le Carré. For instance, my […]

I first met Charles Olaf Johnson, or Chuck as friends call him, at my writing critique group run by Jedwin Smith. Chuck was in his mid-seventies, but that didn’t stop him from flirting. I remember thinking, “Dang, Chuck, if you were younger…holy cow, I would be in trouble.” And he knew I was thinking that. Chuck was awesomely […]

Dear RadFem, I would love to know why you are focused only on male violence and totally silent about the thousands of years of female abuse of men and children? Why do I hear nothing but crickets when I ask you about the well-documented subject of female-on-female violence, an open secret in the gay community? […]

Dear RadFem, For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore, if women are reacting in their daily life because of the fear of what will happen to them at the hands of men, and it causes them distress, you would call that systematic oppression when it happens over generations. I have watched […]

To plot, or not to plot — that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the book to allow The characters to surprise the writer Or to make detailed plot assignments And, by controlling, end the surprise. To plan the plot — who knows — and by plan to say we end The heartache, and […]

Dear RadFem, Yes, the oppressed can oppress others. I make no distinction here between race, gender, nationality, or economic segments. I also believe an oppressed class can systemically oppress another class. I also know for a fact not all men or women are evil, but that some can be. Therefore, in my attempt to be […]

There’s an old joke that goes like this. A man and his wife are in a restaurant. A beautiful woman walks up to the man, says hello, bends over, cleavage front and center, and gives him a sensual kiss, which the man returns. The beautiful woman walks away. His wife is outraged. She says to […]

Long and tall she was born. Skin and bones, too, because her mother, determined to walk out of the hospital in her skinny pants, had eaten only goat’s milk and cornbread during her pregnancy thereby almost starving her firstborn. But the girl’s survival instinct was strong. So, using God’s very own system while plugged into […]

Marston Morse was a mathematician who, if memory serves – and most simply at that — somehow defined the basis for string theory. In describing his journey to that discovery, he also happened upon a definition of male/female relationships, namely — The roads by which we arrive at our insights seem to me as worthy […]

Sitting on a barstool, an old man once summed up his lifetime with women in this way. He said to me, “Boy, let me tell you. I’ve got it all figured out. See, I’ve been around. I’ve seen it all – or close enough. And I’ve been in some nicely sticky situations — hehehe — […]

There is nothing like riding down the road with the radio turned up to traffic-annoying levels while singing along to a song and beating in time on the steering wheel. I discovered this when I was driving away from Lucinda’s house after she turned down my offer of marriage. Actually, I cried for a couple […]

I once knew a dynamic speaker who, just before he’d exit the stage, would insist that nobody clap for him. Instead, he’d say, spend the next two minutes in silence thinking about what I’ve said. After all, he’d continue, this vital and crucial information isn’t meant to bring honor and glory to me. No, no, […]