Former technical writer who now just writes for pleasure. I enjoy creative nonfiction is my focus, and I've self-published two books on Amazon. If you have any questions about memoirs or journaling, please ask. But since I am easily distracted, I will also be writing about films, movies, music, television, books, stamp collecting and anything else my heart desires. Be seeing you...
Recent posts
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Kenneth Roberts, A Writer's Writer
Kenneth Roberts… Where do I begin in describing the twentieth century writer who continues to inspire me, sixty years after his death? Maybe by talking about the book whose title I hope to have inscribed on my tombstone: “I Wanted to Write.” Kenneth’s autobiography is a labor of love and ambition, the book’s structure and format unconventional- some would even say self-serving and “messy.” But if …
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How Great Thou Art, Alfred
Given Alfred Hitchcock’s strict Catholic upbringing, one wonders if any kind of religious conviction remained with the Master of Suspense, once his career took off in the late Thirties and early Forties. Yet AH seemed drawn to houses of worship, even if- with one exception- churches are only tangential to the plot… Secret Agent “Secret Agent” is a spy-vs-spy story, showing the terrible things that…
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“A Star Is Born” Again, Thanks To an Obsessed Fan
Were Ronald Haver alive today, I’d send him a heartfelt Thank You; if it weren’t for his untiring quest, we’d never have a restored version of one of the greatest movie musicals in film history. Books about moviemaking are legion, but only a handful live up to their potential. Aside from movie review collections- some of the best coming from James Agee, Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert- “A Star Is Bor…
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What A Way to Go! My Favorite Movie Endings
⎯ 👏1A good movie, like music, romance, and chocolate, is one of the things that make this life worth living. The immersive nature of films engages the senses, the best movies leaving us drained but happy, as the final credits roll. What follows are my favorite movie endings- the ones that get my adrenaline and endorphins blazing, or the tear ducts flowing… Strangers On a Train (1951) Only Hitchcock wo…
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Lunch with a Carpenter at Taco Bell
At Taco Bell for lunch. Saw the same transient- a regular- sitting at an outside dining table. Wearing a dirty cap, worn and soiled clothes, eating lunch placidly, a bike-and-trailer unit parked curbside. He’d eat a few bites, then stop and pick something disagreeable out of his meal, or spit on the sidewalk, doing nothing good for my appetite. For some reason, I felt compelled to speak with him. …
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Blue Voyage: Conrad Aiken's Novel Plumbs the Depths of Human Love
It’s 2:11 am, and I just finished reading Conrad Aiken’s “Blue Voyage,” for the third time. But as I placed the book on my nightstand, it felt as if I was reading Aiken’s novel for the first time. Ever had that happen? You read something and it doesn't make sense- so you give up on it. Or you make it to the end, but find that somewhere along the line, you started skipping sentences, then paragraph…
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Setting Up a Low-Cost Neighborhood Library
The desire to share things one enjoys is universal- and books are no exception. And if you love books as much as I do, sharing favorites can be rewarding, though problematic, at times. Sure, Rex Stout’s greatest creations- detectives Nero Wolfe and sidekick Archie- are a blast to hang out with. But some people don’t care for mysteries. Then there’s P. G. Wodehouse, with his sidesplitting tales of …
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Publish or Burn?
Every so often a crisis of confidence blows though, like some sort of wicked seasonal storm. Said turbulence chases away the Muse, sends me into a sadness zone, and interrupts any forward progress I’ve been enjoying with my writing. This time around the trouble has come in the form of doubts about whether or not to chase that goal of getting published. I read about someone who’s just had a magazi…
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Handling Paperwork the Old School Way
Awarning for all techies and minimalists out there: what I’m about to share will be of no interest to you. In fact, you may get riled up by the paperwork system I’m going to describe, for it will not decrease paper usage or your carbon footprint. If you’re a late adopter like me who’s buried in paperwork, and suspects that the Cloud or one’s flash drive or some other external storage device isn’t …
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Before He's Gone
Until The Breakup, Paul was always just another Beatle. Sure, his photo was the one my sister wanted to score, when she had enough coin to buy a thin, wax-covered trading card pack or two, most likely the Topps series. That desperation was born of lack of exposure to the Beatles. After all, it was The Sixties. The only time we heard Beatles music, apart from the radio or via 45 RPM records, was …
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The Deceptive Allure of Composition Books
You’re walking the aisles of your local Walmart, and you’ve made it through that shopping list you scribbled on the back of a used envelope. It’s time to head to your car… And then you see it: Past the pens and pencils and highlighters and Sharpies sits a shelf full of composition notebooks. Those 9.5" x 7.5", wide-ruled, 200-page wonders with covers that come in every color and design imaginable.…
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How I Brought a Total Stranger Back to Life
While visiting with friends during dinner, the subject of genealogy and family history came up. Jim, our host, told me about a project he’d been working on; then he ran off to his library, returning with a white, one-inch binder which he handed to me. “That’s a copy of a book I’m writing about Nora Kennedy, my great-great grandmother on my father’s side.” I thumbed through the work, impressed by J…
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What Is a Memoir? And Should You Write One? (Part 5)
The hard truth about revising drafts is that it seems never-ending. You tighten up the sentences, then notice that the verb tenses are out of whack. You fix the dialogue tags, but the voice is inconsistent. And the more you mess with your writing, the greater the risk of overwriting; you can no longer see the forest for the trees, because you’ve clearcut the woods. So, you rush through the editi…
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Preserve Those Journals and Notebooks Before It’s Too Late
As the years pass, I’m not sure which is fading faster- my documents or my health. Aside from dietary improvements, or a better exercise regimen- neither of which are going to happen, me being set in my ways at 71- there’s not much I can do to slow the march of time. But when it comes to personal records, there are measures I’ve taken to preserve memories, events and accomplishments, before they a…
- creative-nonfiction
- journal
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On the Hazards of Writing a Book About Love
It’s not often that I happen upon a great concept for a book. Usually, an idea will stroll into my Grey Matter waiting room, hang around until I notice it while sitting there reading a Children’s Highlights magazine, then run away once I tell myself that “That’s the stupidest story idea ever. What was I thinking?” But last year I started thinking about how close I came to never getting married- an…
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Janus and Me
When I was a kid, I looked forward to the weekend. Freed from school classes and homework, I could hang out with friends, space out in front of the TV, or roam my family’s twenty-acre farm for hours on end. But sometime during the day the phone would ring; on the other end of the line was Grandma, wanting to speak to Mom. I’d hand the phone off, then head outside- returning a couple of hours later…
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A Story is Born
I love my old journals, letters, postcards, and photos; I can always depend on them for another look at what happened- maybe not a complete account, but a foundation from which to start and build. But I run a risk with those personal records: like old jigsaw puzzle pieces, the longer they sit around, unassembled and unprotected, the more likely a few of the pieces will go missing; and if enough of…
