About

This blog is dedicated solely to the craft of writing- my overarching goal is to compose at least 500 words of fiction a day, in an effort to both practice and hone my abilities as a writer.

Writing is one of the few things I am passionate about.  As a child, I was endlessly enraptured by even the most mundane stringing together of words.  Something about the power of language rings within me in a way I couldn’t even possibly begin to explain to someone who hasn’t felt it themselves.

I have read passages written so beautifully that I would gladly hack off my left arm with a rusty knife if only I had that amount of talent.  Dostoyevsky, Hemingway, and Faulkner are a few of my personal favorites.  I would include Shakespeare in that list, but it would seem to be superfluent.  It’s like saying that the Sun is your favorite star- if that’s true, it generally goes without saying.

My writing career is nonexistent- I have the random bunch of short stories I’ve written and never done anything with; won a contest at college; wrote a novel but stopped trying to get it published, etc.  So my hope is that this blog will inspire me to get more serious with this thing I love- I am much too old for another fling.

After graduating from law school, I reconnected with a friend who suggested that writing 500 words of fiction a day was a good way to develop discipline as a writer.  It’s a good an idea as any I’ve heard of, so I thought I would try it.

My biggest obstacles when it comes to writing are largely dual in nature- I fear that my writing will not be good enough when compared to other writers.  Also, when I do write, I tend to criticize myself so severely that the creative process ends up thwarted and I’m left with nothing but a few hackneyed phrases.

To clear those hurdles, I’ve decided to pretty much not give a damn.  I’m just going to write.

Comments are always welcome.  The biggest compliment a writer can ever receive is neither praise nor criticism- it’s the fact that the piece was actually read.  If this blog forces me to write a story that happens to be read by a guy in Topeka, then it’s a success.

Every artist, I suppose, seeks an audience.