UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO related
My daughter recognized me as an author for the first time. I’ll never forget it.
My daughter noticed my books for the first time today. They are stacked on the cluttered bookshelf near where I write, and as I was giving her a hug, she looked over my shoulder and asked, “What’s that?” I told her that they were the books that I had written. She knows that I write…
Read MoreLessons from Irving and Franzen
A number of interesting thoughts from John Irving and Jonathan Franzen from their appearance at The Connecticut Forum. John Irving’s favorite word is penis, and he claims it to be a very useful word when needing to cut through the chatter of an airport terminal in order to locate your lost child. Jonathan Franzen credits…
Read MoreKnow thyself, or just read what festival organizers have to say about you instead
My appearance at the upcoming Connecticut Book Festival has been finalized for those interested in attending. I will be speaking on Sunday from 10:00-11:00 AM at the University of Connecticut Greater Hartford Campus. I’ll then be signing books from 11:00 AM -12:00 PM. More details to follow, including the schedules for the other authors appearing. …
Read MoreQuoted on Twitter, which is only slightly less prestigious than Bartlett’s Book of Familiar Quotations
I was quoted twice this week on Twitter, which is a good sign considering one of my lifelong ambitions is to make it into Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations. The first tweet reads: From an article in Reader’s Digest Aug ’09: "The story already exists and you just need to find it." -Matthew Dicks Oddly enough, I…
Read MoreA contest! With prizes!
I like the word nonetheless a lot. It’s like the Swiss army knife of words. So full. So well equipped. Practically three words in one. This morning I found myself attempting to use the word nonethesame, liking the sound of the word very much but finding my use of it less than adequate. Then the…
Read MoreAvoid ambiguity in the demise of a character
I don’t mind endings that make you wonder what might happen to a character had another scene been written or filmed. Both Something Missing and Unexpectedly, Milo end with the protagonist’s future in doubt. But at least you know that both protagonists will have a future. What I despise are endings in which the existence…
Read MoreThe thing I do best
I was recently asked by an editor to describe my strengths as a writer, and after some fumbling about, I had to admit that I did not know. It’s a question that I’ve asked myself over the years, since so much of my success seems accidental. I do not know the plot of any of…
Read MoreIs it time for product placement in fiction?
A month after my first novel, SOMETHING MISSING, hit the store shelves, I began receiving the occasional but persistent email from readers asking and oftentimes accusing me of having made product placement deals during the writing of my book. It would seem that my frequent use of specific brand names in the book had struck a…
Read MoreThe Page 69 Test
Marshall McLuhan recommends that the book browser turn to page 69 of any book and read it. If you like that page, buy the book. It works. Following this theory, I have written a guest post for the blog The Page 69 Test, as it pertains to UNEXPECTEDLY, MILO. Surprisingly, even though page 69 of…
Read MoreUNEXPECTEDLY, MILO update
My book tour continues this week with appearances at The Book Cellar in Brattleboro, Vermont on Thursday night at 7:00 and at Water Street Books in Essex, New Hampshire on Saturday night at 7:00. I’ve been guest blogging about book tours on Water Street’s blog, which you can read about here. My final post in…
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