Category Archives: Quintessence

Prequels, Sequels, & Spinoffs

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Syzygy. Amazingly, the only English word with three Y’s also happens to describe a rare astronomical event involving three heavenly bodies. A syzygy is the alignment of three celestial bodies in a straight line… On December 3, 2012, Saturn, Venus & Mercury will align. On that same night, 3 women align to see that justice is done. Ponzi Bonnet thought she had found the perfect husband. A psychologist could certainly understand her damage. But her suspicion of infidelity turns out to be something far worse. Far more sinister. And he had to be stopped. This new book I’m working on–and … Continue reading →

Kindred Molecules, Deja Vu, and Noosphere

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There are people we meet who seem to be immediately familiar…these familiars are somewhat vexing, in that it often doesn’t make much sense why you are drawn to certain people and feel like they are part of your molecules, somehow.Whatever that little cosmic thing is that seems to be going on somewhere under the radar…I seriously believe in the concept of Kindreds. I rarely have that sense with people, but I have been enjoying that connection with a new one–Tanya. I feel a connection with Tanya that defies logic. We haven’t seen each other in 30 years. But I have … Continue reading →

What I’m Getting Myself for Xmas.

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When I was in college during the early part of the 90’s, (my second foray into academia) I had to do one of those presentations for speech in which your group invents a product and then does the sales pitch to the class. I ended up with a bunch of dead beats in my group who didn’t want to work on it because they had a party to get to, beer to drink, etc. Most people who’ve been to college, know that drill…. So–I did most of the work. I came up with a product called “Life Light” which was … Continue reading →

The Benefits of Well-Feeding

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Though I have had moments–and those moments often stretched into days and weeks and sometimes months–of a Dry Writing Well…I should never allow myself to worry about it too actively. I always reach a point where my well is filled again, to overflowing, and I feel that handling the burgeoning water of writing would require me to clone myself. Complete with an inflatable raft. Like now. After finishing my 13th book, I fell into one of those dry wells, and even worried about it. Yet, here I am with 8 or 9 new books yanking at my head, and I … Continue reading →

My Beginnings

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In my readings about writing, I came across several good points about how the beginning of your book is often the most important part–at least, if you intend to grab the attention of an editor, publisher or agent. I wondered what all my beginnings really looked like…and so I gathered them here for kicks. Would these beginnings make you, as a reader, want to keep reading? I welcome all comments. My beginnings…. The openings (first sentences/paragraphs) of my books. “Sully’s, on South Prospect, was the quintessential biker-bar, complete with hefty, leather-clad Harley worshippers, and stringy-haired heroin-addicted women who made the … Continue reading →

Voice: First & Third Person

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One of the most difficult things to master for me (and many other writers) is VOICE. This challenge trudges through the morass of other subjects like past tense vs. present tense, or past perfect tense, flashbacks, omniscience. . . Which Person? In fiction, the overwhelming majority of books are written in Third-Person. There are cogent reasons for this. One pertinent reason is that when you use First-Person, you are restricted to only what your main character is privy too. So if you need some clandestine goings-on, this wouldn’t serve you. In First-Person, your main character has to be present all … Continue reading →

Impatience, M-Theory & the Nihilistic Abyss

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It’s a true sign of the times–the impatience that has us standing in front of the countdown of a microwave, shouting “Hurry up!” Another version of this is jerking the coffee carafe out before brewing is complete, so you can just get some in a cup. For a while now, this societal impatience has been recognized by java Research and Development teams worldwide. One feature we enjoy in modern life is a coffeemaker with a stop-flow gadget so the coffee won’t drip down onto the warming plate, like little hissing H-bombs in a very tropical Lilliputian1 village. It bakes in … Continue reading →

My Muse Still Breathes

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  All authors get to a point in their writing life, where they feel they have plumbed the depths of the well the Muse provides, and begin to doubt that they have anything else to offer. This is usually a case of stagnation within the milieu of new experience. Without new input, new contrasts in our day to day lives, we can only reiterate what we have already learned. I had reached this point a few weeks ago. I feared that the 12 books I have in print and the 2 I’m almost finished with, were to be the last. … Continue reading →