The Virtues of Walking in Different Shoes

Atticus Finch famously advised his hot-headed daughter that you never really know someone until you walk a mile in their shoes. And while both un-hygenic and impractical, it’s still a great code for living. I also find it useful as a writer. Not only in terms of learning to empathize with characters whom you mightContinue reading “The Virtues of Walking in Different Shoes”

“You Make a Mean Salad”

The Importance of Complicating Characters The summer after he and I graduated high school, my friend (for the sake of anonymity, let’s call him Ed, even though his real name is Joe), had perhaps his first truly adult date with his girlfriend (get your mind out of the gutter; I don’t mean it that way).Continue reading ““You Make a Mean Salad””

I Gave An Interview!

The wonderful blogger and all-around smarty Wynne Leon interviewed me a little while ago about my new audio play, Step 9, available wherever you get your podcasts (just search “New Normal Rep” and “Step 9” and you’re good to go! She generously allowed me to reprint it here: In March 2020 when Seattle went intoContinue reading “I Gave An Interview!”

A Mercifully Brief Post About Knowing Nothing.

Which, Let’s Face It, I Know a Fair Amount About. Like most people, I’ve led an unusual life. For me, part of its unorthodoxy is my insistence on trying to make a living as a writer. Let’s just say, it’s been an uphill climb. But occasionally I comfort myself with the knowledge that there areContinue reading “A Mercifully Brief Post About Knowing Nothing.”

Killing Your Darlings. In Your Writing, I Mean. Not In Some Jim-Jonesian Way.

Hemingway said you should write your story, and then take all of the “best” lines out. Would we like F. Scott Fitzgerald, or Toni Morrison, or James Baldwin half as much if they took our their best lines?

Who Wants Hear Me Pontificate About Monologues?*

OF COURSE YOU DO, FRANKLY, WHO COULD RESIST SUCH A GREAT TEASER? The good news: this will be a short post. The bad news: I’ll be acting as if I know something. And I think it’s only fair to reming everyone of the late, great William Goldman wrote, “Nobody knows anything.” So, that said, letContinue reading “Who Wants Hear Me Pontificate About Monologues?*”