Storytellersunplugged

I'm a little overwhelmed, as usual, with things clutching and dragging at me, but I wanted to take a little bit of time to talk about how schedules and best-laid plans can go to Hell in a handbasket, as my step-dad was fond of saying. I've spent a very chaotic few years bouncing form personal disaster to personal disaster, writing in mad sporadic bursts and not writing in molasses-thick periods of lethargy. I have written novels that are better than ... Read More

I have been making the same drive back and forth from Hertford, NC to Chesapeake, VA for over five years now. It's a long, solitary stretch - and over time, things have added up in my mind until it's like navigating some other dimension. On the drive home last Sunday, a final pin dropped in the silence, and I heard the echo. I wrote this specially for my extra Halloween Storytellers gift to you all... Since we have no poster ... Read More

Here at Storytellers Unplugged we started a semi-traditional practice last year of posting fiction during October to celebrate Halloween. When we started out, there was a predominance of horror writers in the group - we are much more diverse now. Some of us will still be posting fiction this month, and for my own entry I've chosen a very old story of mine. It was written for and published in a fanzine titled "Norfolk by Night," and it's a ... Read More

(Note from SU Land. Our regularly scheduled essayist, Justine Musk, is lodged in pitched battle with a novel deadline -- her post will appear down the road, but in the meantime here is an extra slice of Mr. William Lindblad) By William Lindblad Okay, it doesn't exist yet, but it should. Here's why: Awards mean something, in a way most authors don't care to admit to themselves. They mean a continued interest in your work after you stop writing, and especially after ... Read More

George Guthridge One of the comments the last time I wrote regarded my having used “abstract” as a verb. Since one of the two workbook/DVD series I am writing involves grammar, I thought the comment might be an interesting springboard. First, yes, Toto, “abstract” is a verb – it’s not even a rare usage. I would say “Look it up,” but that is a poor teaching practice where parts of speech are concerned. Although “abstract” is listed ... Read More

by David Niall Wilson When I was younger, I had a plan that involved growing up to be a minister. In a way, that plan never left me, since I did become ordained through the Universal Life Church, an ordainment every bit as legal as any other, but probably not taken too seriously in most circles. I also had a plan that involved growing up to be a great writer. That plan is also still kicking and breathing, and the ... Read More

By Richard Steinberg “The creative artist seems to be almost the only kind of man that you could never meet on neutral ground. You can only meet him as an artist. He sees nothing objectively because his own ego is always in the foreground of every picture,” Raymond Chandler It’s an interesting moment. Dark and light seem completely balanced in my life right now. Not as if I have finally got a handle on life – far from it – but rather, as if ... Read More

by Justine Musk This is not the essay I intended to write. I write this in a lodge somewhere in Iceland where I've been staying the past two days with my spouse, assorted extremely-bright accomplished people, and a famous actress. This gathering is meant to be a kind of think tank retreat/salon concerning one issue in particular. I won't say what that issue is, because I want to talk a bit about the famous actress without giving away her identity, and, like any movie star, which is why they become a ... Read More

(Quick note from the wings...Elizabeth Massie sends greetings from the land of overwhelming deadlines, down there by that Myth Pool. She'll be back next month, entertaining as ever. In the meantime, here is a special extra bite out of Brian Knight's Mind - DNW) By Brian Knight Be silent in that solitude Which is not loneliness, for then The Spirits of the dead who stood In life before thee are again In death around thee, and their will Shall overshadow thee: be still. - Edgar Allan Poe, Spirits ... Read More

By David Niall Wilson I'm currently reading one of the most recent novels by Stephen King, Lisey's Story, which is a twist on the old writer writing a story about a writer plot. The story is about the widow of a writer, and is full of insights from an odd perspective. The perspective, in this case, is that of an author, Stephen King, writing through the mind and eyes of a woman who was married to a horror writer. In other ... Read More