Writer's Block
"In that prolonged developmental period of what I call B.P. [i.e., Before Publication], which lasted from World War 2 until the new millennium, I laboured under many hats. Soldier, translator, football/basketball/volleyball player and coach, fast-food worker, newspaper flyer, educational game designer, dishwasher, college teacher, contract engineer, caregiver to a menagerie of small animals, data entry clark, and always always always Student.I've been writing for most of my life, in one form or another. Formal writing classes might have helped, had I but the time to attend. The process of writing--of learning to write--has paralleled the process of living, and of learning to live. Hopefully the karma will hold for the next round, scheduled sometime later this century.
Late last year various factors conspired to seat me in the editor position for Aoife's Kiss. Earlier that summer, while Erin Donahoe and I were working up the first draft for the illustrated fantasy novel also of that title, we had discussed the possibility of someday developing a magazine with fantasy as its foundation. The opportunity Jim Baker presented was too good to pass up--and now Aoife's Kiss is about to publish its second issue, and is working on the third. I told Jim that I wanted it to be more than just a magazine, and so it has proven. Now if Erin and I can just finish the novel...
Things change, and stay the same. Much of what I believe can be found in one form or another in the constitution of my protagonists. Am I like them? Physically, no...most of them are women. Experientially? More than, perhaps, I would care to admit. But the core value remains the same, and is taken unwittingly from Heinlein and from the principles of Wicca. Be tough, but, harming no one unnecessarily, do what you will.
If I could accomplish one thing with my writing, it would be this: to compose a paragraph, or create a scene, or write a story, that takes your breath away."
MOVIE: Delicatessen, Armageddon, Casablanca, Young Frankenstein, Tank Girl, The Fifth Element, La Femme Nikita, The Sixth Sense...others.
STAR: Antares
ACTOR: Connery, Weaver, Dench, Bogart, Rigg, Mirren, Willis, Shaw, Glover, Neeson. Radha Mitchell or Kyra Sedgwick could play Nyx
BOD: ...you mean, besides Beth? Hmm...probably Susan Sarandon.
TV PROGRAM: Forever Knight, Red Dwarf, Doctor Who, The Avengers, Xena, Waiting For God, Andromeda. Most other programs are on the order of "Let's see what Vanna is wearing today!"
MUSIC: Clannad to Led Zeppelin, with stops along the way at Goo Goo Dolls and Sarah Brightman. For writing I prefer nocturnes and soft sonatas. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata works well.
ICE CREAM: Black walnut, strawberry....and anything by Kimball's near Ayer, Massachusetts.
UNCATEGORIZED: The two greatest acts of courage in the history of the world were performed by that guy who stood in front of the tank in TienAnMen Square, and by Sinead O'Connor, when she tore up the Pope's photo.
AUTHOR: Sheffield, Ludlum, Forsythe, Tanith Lee, MacDonald, Asimov, Kornbluth, Heinlein, Clancy, Ellison, Grafton, Willis...the three Hamiltons [Donald, Edmond, and Laurell]...Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman, and Terry Pratchett, of course, and James Morrow.
ATTITUDE: Rub her feet [Heinlein].
BEVERAGE: Glenfiddich, other highland single malts. Gin and tonic with a bit of lime. Bushmill's Irish whiskey. A bottle of Grolsch or Dos Equis on a hot day, or in a tavern with friends. A nice port for late-night writing and chatting. Coffee, of course--Guatemalan, Ethiopian, or a Sumatra blend. Decaf is for wusses. So is lite beer, which should be poured back into the frog.
BASEBALL TEAM: Chicago Cubs
POSITION: whatever works for her
FOOTBALL TEAM: pretty much any team that refuses to sign players who abuse women, which pretty much eliminates all of them.
BASKETBALL TEAM: see Football Team.
OTHER: I thoroughly enjoyed watching Joe Montana, Martina Navratilova, Michael Jordan, Bill Walton, Brandi Chastain, and Reggie Jackson. They had...vitality.
OTHER OTHER: Isn't Jennifer Capriatti remarkable? You CAN come back. Go, girl!
FOOD: pretty much anything made from scratch or in a crock pot. Mom's biscuits. Beth does a real kick-%$# minestrone. I make a great colcannon, and crock a useful beef and barley soup [hint: use Korean barley].
ARTWORK: varies...Pompeian mosaics, marble sculptures...right now, Buburuz's "Night Dancer" and Gendron's "Pandora." Ask me again in September.
CHORE: ...who made this list up? Bring his @%# to me, now!
COLOUR: blue, green, tangerine. Depends on the mood.
CANDY BAR: Godiva chocolates, of course. But M&Ms are one of the four major food groups.
COUNTRY: depends...south central France, west coast of Italy, or isle of Ibiza [single]; Cisalpine Switzerland or rural Japan [married]; Mediterranean coast of Spain [either].
DOG: mine
CHARACTER: ...truth is, one reason I write is because I like the characters I create. Of them, my favorite to date probably is Praise, from "Cloudburst." To me she represents all that is good and indomitable in the human spirit...although I did not intentionally create her with that in mind, her character took that tack in development as the story progressed, and I felt it was much better to let her grow than to try to bung her back into my own pre-conceived notions of what I wanted her to be at the outset. Of characters not my own...John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee, Heinlein's Lazarus Long...and Vance's Kirth Gersen and Varley's Cirocco Jones, both of whom greatly influenced my own poor efforts.
BIBLIOGRAPHYNon-Fiction
Coffee Advertising....................Linn's Stamp News, 5/96 Fiction: Novels
Nyx......................................ProMartian Publishing, 10/01 Fiction: Short Stories
Alchemotherapy........................The Modern Art Cave,9/02
* selected for publication in Wondrous Web Worlds Fiction: Illustrated Short Stories
Gemstones......................................Sam's Dot Publishing, 7/02 Poetry:
Aoife's Kiss..................................................Aoife's Kiss, 6/02 * selected for publication in Wondrous Web Worlds Fiction: Short Story Contests
First Place:
Second Place: Fiction: Short Stories in progress
Communicide..............................................................submitted Poetry in progress
True Reflection.............................................................submitted
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