Category Archives: Memoir

Sweet Soft Rain

I don’t know if I’m ready to write about Seattle yet.  I just got back a few months ago.  I was born and raised here, but I’ve been gone for thirty-seven years.  Being gone for so long puts things in … Continue reading

Posted in Memoir | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

What Is It About Romance? …and Tragedy

I wrote my recent review of Neil Simon’s memoir “Rewrites” when I still had about twenty pages left to read.  It turns out the last twenty pages are about Simon’s first wife’s battle with cancer and how he reacts to … Continue reading

Posted in Memoir, Reading | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Rules for Alternative Realities

I have been giving a lot of thought lately to mistakes I might have made in the past.  Let’s not say mistakes; let’s rather say that if I had to make certain choices over again that I made long decades … Continue reading

Posted in Memoir, On Writing, Travel | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Word Fountain

I just had to start writing again. It was driving me crazy. I write all day long, but it’s not the same thing. The writing I do for money consists of Internet articles that are bullshit, masticating and spitting out … Continue reading

Posted in Memoir, On Writing | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Afterword to the Short Story “Portals”

I have begun to write and assemble story afterwords (ubiquitous additions to my volumes of short stories) for my next short story collection. These notes are on “Portals”, a story that has already been published electronically and is available at … Continue reading

Posted in Memoir, On Writing, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

My Favorite Books on Writing

I don’t think you can learn writing from a book.  If it can be taught, it is more through osmosis, through absorbing everything around you, including books, personal experience, and insight from other writers.  I hesitate to add writing classes, … Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews, Memoir, On Writing, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How I Began Self-Publishing; Prelude: Greek Summers

Before I explain how I got started in self-publishing I need to explain about my summers in Greece.  However, I have a confession to make.  I will likely go into more detail than I need to because thinking about sunshine … Continue reading

Posted in Memoir, On Writing | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Jack London: An American Life by Earle Labor

If I had to name the three writers most influential on my own career as a writer, they would be Jack London, Harlan Ellison, and Henry Miller.  I would snap up a biography of Harlan Ellison in a moment, but … Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews, Memoir, On Writing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Self-Evaluation

I have reached a sort of limbo in my writing career.  It has happened before; in fact, it used to happen every school term in Greece, especially around exam time. No matter what resolve I might muster up, no matter … Continue reading

Posted in Memoir, On Writing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America by George Packer; Part Two: The Frog in the Pot

Coming to the end of a great book is an exhilarating experience tempered only by the fact that the ride is over.  This book, though it is a work of nonfiction, concludes like a novel, with a buildup in a … Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews, Memoir | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment