Storytellersunplugged

I had to give a presentation the other night to a local writers’ guild regarding goal setting as it relates to writing. Now I rarely, if ever, use notes when presenting anything. I know the topic I’m going to speak on, keep a few key points on the subject in my head, then just spout away. I enjoy doing it this way because it gives me the opportunity to feed off the crowd’s energy, change course and tone depending on the body ... Read More

Get the podcast - or Subscrbe in iTunes If I do this right, this post will be exactly 500 words (not counting the title). Why? Because it shouldn’t take more than that to discuss (not “talk about”) flash fiction, the class of stories shorter than X words (where X could be 1000, 500, 250…). For example: For sale: baby shoes, never worn. This six-word “story,” penned by Ernest Hemingway, never a garrulous writer to begin with, is often cited as the ne plus ultra ... Read More

I think it was the DragonBar that made me remember an early lesson in my writing career.  And that happened because the carp 'n' tuna syndrome that beset my wrists after too many 18-hour marathons at the keyboard eventually led me to try voice activation software.  Dragon NaturallySpeaking with its DragonBar is arguably the leader in that field.  I had tried using it in the late 90s to write a book for a celebrity, but the error rate just killed me when ... Read More

by John B. Rosenman No, no, I’m not talking about the sensational movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis in his first Oscar-winning role. I’m talking about my left foot, which until six weeks ago was strictly dependable, except for a weak ankle that necessitated wearing an ankle brace if I engaged in physical exercise. One day I noticed that my left foot hurt. Then it hurt a lot more. Then it got better and lulled me into a false sense of ... Read More

  I’ve been invited into a few charity anthologies recently. Most of them looked pretty good on paper. Like communism the equation looked sound, but once you got into the details they tended to fall apart.   One of the anthologies is in defense of a website for writers that is getting sued for, frankly, telling the truth. It happens. Probably a lot, too. Here’s the premise in this case. I and a lot of other writers are supposed to donate stories for the anthology. ... Read More

It was Sunday at the L.A. Book Festival.  I'd just met Joe Hill for the first time (a quick greeting and a few words while on a signing line) and had hurried off to get Raymond E. Feist's signature on some of his early work, thus to increase the books' future salability.  Unfortunately, Feist wasn't there; a personal emergency had come up.  I was left with one book left unsigned, by an author who was due to hold a signing in three hours.Rather ... Read More

With Mother’s Day coming up, I’ve been thinking a lot about how my mom’s choices made me into the adult, the father and the writer I’ve become. (Thinking is easier and cheaper than shopping.) And aside from concluding that my mom is better than your mom, I realized that she gave me a gift I don’t suppose many horror writers really ever got from their parents and other family. My mom didn’t just teach me to read, or encourage me to write, ... Read More

When I was a kid, and on into my teenage years, and a few occasions after that, by which time I really should’ve known better, I would sunburn on a world-class level. Still could, I suppose, but … no thanks. The fun’s gone out of it. It’s these ancestral Northern Euro genes, which drained my hide of every last picoliter of ancient ancestral melanin. The result: sunburns so spectacular that, even after dark, having me around was like having a radiant sliver of ... Read More

GONE WITH THE WIND AND OTHER WORDS OF WISDOM There are questions that many new or would-be writers ask me, an old or has-been writer, and I thought this a good month in which to share those questions. Also my answers. Q: Is it true that a good title is the most important selling point for a book? A. Yes. For that reason, you should call your novel GONE WITH THE WIND. Unless it's a diet book, for which you might find a more suitable title. Unless ... Read More

So, yeah, I've been having a hell of a spring. I've been missing deadlines, having to back out of promised projects, and having constant sourceless panic attacks and bouts of serious doubt about the quality of my work and my ability to do it. It's a precarious way to make a living, this writing gig, and there's always the fear that you're going to lose the mojo and that will be the end of that. Anyway, I talked to my editor on the ... Read More