The Power of Story
There’s something you should really know before getting in a car with me: if classic rock is playing, you’d best prepare yourself for an unsolicited history lesson at some poin
Dancing About Architecture
“Writing about music,” Elvis Costello once famously said, “is like dancing about architecture.” His point being, don’t review my work, because you’re wasting your t
The Bookshelf Diaries (an occasional series): Fountain, Sedaris, Connelly, Caillat
After a recent outing to Bookshop Santa Cruz, the stack of books at my bedside grew to resemble Jack’s beanstalk. There is only one solution to this problem: read, man, read. On
The Person Who Gets It
My friend Mark Doyon of Wampus Multimedia wears many hats: writer, publisher, producer, singer-songwriter, record label head, marketing communications guru. Lately I’ve taken to
Tribe
Humans are tribal by nature. Our first tribe is our immediate family; from there, our tribes spread out in overlapping circles of connection and mutual interest: extended family, f
Writers and Baseball: A Love Affair
“You think you know, but you just don’t know… How about this trip around the bases for this guy? A lifetime minor-leaguer, and he gets a walk-off, in front of this sell-out
Of Book Signing and Bungee-Jumping
The other day I was telling a friend about the book signing that I’ve just agreed to do—details follow below—and expressing my discomfort with the prospect. At which she said
Love Song for a Locomotive
Given that I’ve been writing about music for much of my adult life, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to consider the parallels between the two disciplines. And as writing ficti
Devil’s in the Details
They say the devil’s in the details—and I might tend to agree, in most contexts. In the context of writing fiction, though, for me the details are almost always more fun than w
The Bookshelf Diaries (an occasional series): Macan, Walker, Townshend, Chabon
“If you want to write, the first thing you need to do is read.” In the current lull before the next big push on the new book (which is fated to have a labor lasting many months