[tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=bit.ly] Balancing creative outlets is not something I’ve done very well over the last nine months. Writing has taken the lion’s share of my creative time. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but there are days when I miss my other main creative outlet — playing music. Music is usually a […]
The Value of Other Creative Outlets Read Post »
[tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=bit.ly] I’ve toiled along for the past 9+ months learning what works for me in terms of productivity. I’m feeling pretty good about that part of my writing process as I near the end of my second draft of my novel. I also know that I’ve got so much more to learn.
How Published Authors Write Read Post »
[tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=bit.ly] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytVww5r4Nk0&feature=related] Just cruising through some blues on YouTube and came across Skip James playing Crow Jane. Someday baby you know you got to die …so enjoy all the things about your life, good and bad as they happen. And it doesn’t hurt to carry a large satchel of humility. Because when
Enjoy It While You Can Read Post »
[tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=bit.ly] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4bbH1nsHAg] They say a kiss is just a flower that a bee might return from And do his little dance at the hive Perhaps it’s worth mentioning as I write this song down I am the happiest f*cker alive Because the seashore cries out for a painter to paint it And
Send the Artist Out for Coffee Read Post »
I posted the other day on my need to be better read in the steampunk genre (Since then I’ve received The Difference Engine and Boneshaker and have them piled comfortably on my desk, ready for reading). In addition, for the last seven or eight months I’ve periodically surfed the internet for information on anything from
Steampunk Education Read Post »
Before the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa season I reached approximately the half way mark in my second draft of Shadow of the Black City. I’ve got a pretty good idea of the large story arc and have enjoyed filling in the gaps. Then the holidays came and the writing stopped. It’s been a good break because I’m forcing
Steampunked: Keeping the Novel Afloat While Surfing the Genre Read Post »
…he felt a loneliness he’d not known since he was a child and he felt wholly alien to the world although he loved it still. Cormac McCarthy All The Pretty Horses [tweetmeme source=”jjdanz” only_single=false service=bit.ly] Look at those words. They are not $100 words or $10 words or even $1 words. Those are the words
I never read as much as I’d like. Does anyone? When I do read, I like the stories to be thought-provoking, and resonant. I like to care about the people about whom I’m reading, whether fiction or non-fiction. Of the books I read in 2009, these are the ones that lingered longest (in a good
Favorite Reads of 2009 Read Post »
Today marks the one year anniversary of the death of my friend Jesse. I think about him every day and miss him like hell. Over the last several years we didn’t talk as much as either of us would have liked, but when we did, we just picked up where we left off. Jesse was
In Memoriam of a Friend Read Post »