The Blog

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…
Read more

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.…
Read more

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…
Read more

“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…
Read more

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…
Read more

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…
Read more

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…
Read more

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…
Read more

The State of THE BLUE GOLEM 2019

Another Christmas, another dawning realization that THE BLUE GOLEM, while much improved since this time last year, still isn’t quite ready for prime time. I was really hoping that three strong drafts would be enough. It’s not. My friend Eugene Polonsky is working on his fifth draft, and he’s really good. On one hand I’m…
Read more