Storytellersunplugged

Flamingo Frank would hate it if I wrote his obituary, especially with black crepe hung all over it. Much too dreary. But early on the dawn of August 2, 2008 -- by his own decision, you can be quite certain -- Frank T. Wydra decided he’d had enough of wrestling with pancreatic cancer and told the subversive processes that were racking his body, “Okay, you want it, you got it.” He could do that because his physical presence was the least of ... Read More

Friday the 13th of June was a lucky day for me.  That was the start of a three-day weekend on Cross Lake, Minnesota, as a guest of Glenn Frey.  The friendship goes back 20 years now, and though our muses have different addresses and our histories follow different maps, we are brothers in the ether.  His muse glides elegantly from one success to the next; mine lives in the woods and sweats a lot.  His maps cover the Seven Wonders of the ... Read More

I got to thinking about the library-related advice in my last post and realized that it was inevitably going to be incomplete because I'm not a librarian. So, I thought I would do a short interview with Greg Fisher of the The Cleveland Heights/University Heights Public Library; Greg also runs ...With Intent to Commit Horror, which provides readers with horror reading lists by author, series and subject. My questions are in bold; his answers are below, and as you can see, he has ... Read More

My mind went on a diet a while ago and already it’s lost nearly 1800 words.  It started by eliminating all those empty adjectives and adverbs that just pile bulk on the body of my work without any real nutrition.  Then it tossed out the interjections (pure comfort words – WOW! huh?).  You’re allowed substitutions on this diet, and so next went a bunch of nouns, replaced by less rich pronouns.  I feel much better now.  I have more energy and I ... 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

OK. I have no idea what that means. I just want to get this thing rolling. Somehow, in some way, I am writing this at 11 PM on Sunday the 27th because I worked today at the plant. For eleven hours. Go figure. I went to bed last night expecting to dream of Erica the blonde pharmacist at Walgreen’s who makes certain I’m not skipping my bipolar meds (and maybe that’s a hint ... Read More

When it comes to writing, every day is April Fools’ Day.  The Muses -- hobgoblins of the mind that they are -- play their usual tricks 24/7/365.  Clear your desk, your computer screen and your brain for them and they will clear out of town.  Cut yourself off from pen and paper and they will immediately begin dictating the great American novel to you.  They have a sense of humor, a sense of irony, and no sense of obligation whatsoever.  Swim a ... Read More

Pinch hitting for Frank Wydra is like stepping in for Babe Ruth.  And I wish I could tell you that it’s just an April Fool’s switch and that Frank will be back next month, but it isn’t and for the time being he won’t.  Since before Christmas Frank has been soldiering on with a great deal of pain and exhaustion.  He had some surgeries and the diagnosis was pancreatic cancer, which – in his words – is nasty stuff.  He wanted to ... Read More

(WHEN IT ABSOLUTELY CANNOT FUCKING WAIT ONE MOMENT LONGER) By John Skipp Dear class – Not to put too fine a point on it: I can’t play with you guys this month. My ace collaborator and fellow SU instructor Cody Goodfellow and I have a new book to hand in, one month from now, and it’s still got a whoooooooole lot of work left to do. So here’s your assignment for today, should you choose to accept it: 1) Take out your most pressing project: the one ... Read More

My mother liked to get things done and hated to impose on anyone. This may be why she never made it to the maternity ward and birthed me in the lobby of a hospital. It was the first of many surprise entrances through the wrong door at the wrong time of life that have dogged me ever since. Now you might think that bad timing would be fatal to a writer or to anyone reaching for high stakes against long odds, and ... Read More