The Blog

Three Years Ago Today

This popped up in my memories this morning. This was a historic moment for me–I’d already had my mind blown about the importance of knowing your Content genre but I hadn’t yet had my mind blown about applying the correct genre to my climax. Reading the Story Grid changed the way I thought about writing.…
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Midpoint!

A novel’s midpoint occurs between Middle Build 1 and Middle Build 2, or at the halfway in the overall Middle Build. I shared my all-is-lost moment with my SHEG (editing group) last night. It went over very well. I’m officially at my novel’s midpoint! This is technically the 11th draft, however, it’s the first rewrite…
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And the answer is…

I met Mike Portnoy at the Neal Morse Band’s Great Adventour show outside of Chicago. I have one of his drumsticks from those sessions in my Dining Room. Mike liked the post where I wrote about this on FB! I met Neal Morse at that same show. I saw Stephen Lawhead at WindyCon in 1981.…
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A New Wrinkle

State of the Golem – June, 2020

An online friend asked how I was doing with the novel. Here’s an overview of where I am at the moment, and a sneak peak at the rewritten beginning. I just finished a solid sixth draft of the novel for a class from Joe Bunting called 100 Day Book. In March I had a novel…
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“When Truth Dies…”

I had a brief moment of flow (the creative state where you’re in the groove and writing just flows) a week ago Saturday but was called away to take care of Things because I’m a responsible chap and it was a pleasant day in Wisconsin. As so often happens, when I throttled the Muse, I…
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praying man

The Ruffian’s Prayer

From THE BLUE GOLEM. While Clay Golem is being interviewed by Proctor Lan Lupos to get a feeling for his mental state at the behest of the city’s High Council, six ruffians break into the cottage. A silence followed the din and then the Proctor calmly interposed himself in the standoff. “Before we proceed any…
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Back To Work

I had a realization tonight – it’s time to get back to work. I took some time off after turning my novel in to my editor for a comprehensive diagnostic and took more time off after receiving it back (as recommended), and it has been good. I’ve been reading, I’ve been watching things which will…
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THE BLUE GOLEM Zoom Call Today!

I’d like to host a very brief (15 mins, unless the room would like to go longer) chat of great importance about the future of THE BLUE GOLEM today at 1 pm CDT. While waiting for edit suggestions from my Story Grid editor this next week, I’ve begun writing the sequel, THE BLACK SERPENT, and…
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A COVID-19 Lament

I’ve felt this feeling before… I’m sleeping more than normal but I awaken exhausted, movies and tv shows aren’t filling me with humor, joy, or inspiration, and I’ve lost the compulsion to write for the first time in a long time. The first time I felt like this it was a mystery, a puzzle that…
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