July 2010 – Matthew Dicks

From time to time, I have expressed an occasional appreciation for schadenfreude: pleasure in the misfortune of others. It turns out that I am not so unusual. after all Thanks to the ability of scientists to conduct brain scans, new research has demonstrated that when a person learns about the misfortune of a colleague or…

Occasionally I make the mistake of thinking about my friends’ needs ahead of my own. Rarely does it work out well. About a month ago, I suggested that my friend launch his own landscaping business after he successfully tamed the small-growth forest in my backyard and replaced it with a a lawn. I provided him…

I watched the Project Runway season premier last night. I realize that this may sound odd coming from a man who professes to despise the fashion industry, but I find the creative demands of the show to be fascinating. In last night’s episode, one of the designers, a twenty-something female designer, was preparing to go…

Just a few days before the release of UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO and some good news has been pouring in. The Hartford Courant’s review of the book was excellent: We are happy to report there’s been no sophomore slump for novelist Matthew Dicks, the Newington resident and West Hartford teacher who follows the success of his first…

A reader recently sent me an email explaining that she has not yet posted a comment on my blog even though she has wanted to many, many times because she wasn’t sure if I would welcome her presence and opinions here. She is a devout Christian who spends much of her time thinking, reading and…

I was sitting in Red Robin yesterday, waiting for my wife to arrive. Beside me, spread across two tables that had been pushed apart, was the cartoon map of a Red Robin restaurant. A manager, a middle-aged man with a perpetually furrowed brow, and a younger, more affable corporate wonk were placing cards on the…

Here’s how crazy my writing process can be: I open the next chapter of my manuscript in a restaurant. Protagonist, father and son sitting at a table, waiting for their pancakes. Why are we here? I ask myself. I honestly don’t know. Father and son begin a conversation. Protagonist listens. Still not sure why we’re…

I saw a woman in the gym today with a tee-shirt that read: A friend will help you move… Then on the back of the tee-shirt, it read: But a real friend will help you move a body. Of course, in order to read the back of her shirt, I had to dismount my elliptical…

I received the following email (links added by me) from a reader this morning, who gave me permission to post it here absent his or her name: _____________________________________ Your post entitled Top 3 Blogger on this Blog really upset me. I thought that it was- and that’s where I got stuck. It was- rude? No. Condescending? No. …

The fact that I cannot walk into a restaurant full of empty tables and simply choose the table that I want baffles me. I understand that when the joint is jumping and customers are waiting, you will be assigned to a table of the hostess’s choice. But on a Tuesday night at 6:00, I should…

Archive for July 2010

Pleasure in another person’s pain

Short-sightedness

You have some explaining to do, John Boy.

The precipice of publication

Believers always welcome

Only in corporate America

As a writer, I often have no idea what I’m doing

Stupid tee shirt made stupider

I was right! (insert self-congratulatory jig)

The first table is merely a suggestion.