The Muse You Use

You deserve to hear a great story. And how long has it been? For some, far too long. As we grow up, we often leave great joys behind. We forget to play, lose interest in drawing for the fun of it, and no longer ask those in our lives to crack open a book and…

When you think of Andy Warhol, it’s likely soup cans come to mind. That’s reasonable; his joining of fine art and commerce was iconic, rebellious, and immediate. Easily, we slip into his perspective because he trains our eyes on the mundane. And then, the mundane becomes anything but. Pop art meets you in your life,…

“Just be yourself.” How many times have you heard that old treasure? I’ve said it; it’s been said to me. It’s usually doled out right before a big interview or presentation when you’re on the verge of flop sweat. As if the panic state is ideal for a deep dive into selfhood followed by an…

Law One— Emotion will not move unless a force is acted upon it. Notions move emotions. By law, if we want to change what we feel, we must change what we think. The rain is just the rain; it’s what we think about the rain that determines how we feel when it falls. And it’s…

What are you not doing because you’re afraid you’ll be deemed a fool? I have news; we’re all fools at one time or another. It’s part of the human condition. Embrace it. That’s a heck of a lot better than nurturing some idealized version of yourself, scrambling to protect it, and agonizing when you fall…

I’m sure you know who you are on a Tuesday in traffic, but do you know who you are when you read fiction? Have you ever thought about this version of yourself? Have you pondered your power? It’s a remarkable power seldom remarked on. It goes unrecognized, camouflaged so well some lives pass without ever…

I was with my sister when I saw them. It’s good to have a witness—someone to tell you the ghost or noise was real when you try to talk yourself out of it later.   We saw the rare Undulatus Asperatus—the clouds of the Gods—on a cool Virginia afternoon. Cars pulled over. Strangers stood shoulder-to-shoulder,…

I don’t know you, but if you read The Longblood, you’ll know something about me. Maybe after, you’ll say you loved it and can’t wait for the sequel. Maybe you’ll say it wasn’t your slice of cake. Either way, I’m grateful because the cooperation between readers and writers is sacred. And though your reaction to…

Is it a coincidence . . . or magic? The chance meeting that profoundly alters your path, the same song playing everywhere you go, the stranger on the subway who calls you by the nickname your long-passed grandfather used to—how do you explain these unexplainables?   Whenever I embark on a writing journey, I run into…

When I’m writing a book, it’s mine. I get the joy of fleshing out characters, the exhilaration of noodling through the plot, the frustration when it seems like something can’t and won’t and will never work. And then, I get the utter elation of solving that pesky little something. But the minute I published The…