Tag: writing
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Gulf War Syndrome Causes Writer’s Block
This winter I showed up to the VA hospital complaining of Writer’s Block. It seems like every time I move to a new place—now that I’m not drinking anymore—I must go through this adjustment period where, until my surroundings are familiar, and until my life feels routine, I’m on my guard all the time. Even…
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Should You Talk about That Novel?
Writing never stops—never fully stops—even during a period that feels like vacation. I’m drafting another novel now. Without giving away too much, I’ll tell you that it’s a young adult horror novel about Elmo Avila, the 12-year-old son of a high-ranking Marine, and Elmo’s visit to a haunted tattoo parlor that his father has blacklisted.…
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Embracing the Wastebasket
In the summer of 2018, I got addicted to the wastebasket. Tossing a poem into it gave me a buzz—like a puff from a Marlboro Red. So, I threw away a short story—more intoxicating, like a shot of Camarena tequila. You know how these things go. I wound up sliding a 300-page memoir into the…
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AWP
Hi everyone! Unfortunately, today’s won’t be the kind of post you can really sink your teeth into. But if you’re intent to procrastinate, follow this link to a new table of contents for my blog. You can now read all my best posts without scrolling past the duds (like this one.) Tomorrow I fly out…
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The Round-Up
Happy New Year everyone! I haven’t posted much lately, as I have been relaxing over the holiday. So here now is a brief end-of-year wrap up and a few new goals for 2024. First, if you’ve been with me for a while, you may remember this post about collecting rejections. I set a goal to…
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Notes from the Winners’ Circle
National Novel Writing Month is over. A month ago, I decided to attempt the standard NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words. 50,000 words is not the same thing as a novel. For perspective, Gatsby and Slaughterhouse V are both about 50k words. War and Peace is something like half a million words. What that means is,…
Nolancapps.com 