mystery
How I Keep My Tools Sharp
My latest manuscript, Black Tupelo, took me three years to complete. I worked on it every day — creatively or editorially — weekends included, for months at a time. Every once in a while I would take a break for a week or two, but never for very long; when I’m writing a novel, I [...]
Two Scenes From Black Tupelo
Although some people can write purely from their imaginations, others require actual experience upon which to base their writing. Stephen Crane never experienced combat, but he was able — through the power of his imagination — to create the most convincing of all Civil War novels, Red Badge of Courage. Conversely, Ernest Hemingway’s early novel, [...]
WHAT I’M WORKING ON NEXT
I wrote my first two novels — neither of which was published — in the 1980’s. The first one, called Country Music, was a coming of age story about a group of young men in Haliburton, north of Toronto. It almost made it; it was with Doubleday for eleven months, and the young editor who [...]
THE DEATH OF JOHN UPDIKE
I’d intended to write about my next project in this blog, but something far more important came up: the death of John Updike. For any serious reader of modern American fiction, Updike is a must. His quartet of novels about Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom (Rabbit, Run, 1960; Rabbit Redux, 1971; Rabbit Is Rich, 1981; Rabbit at [...]
HOW OUR AMERICAN ODYSSEY LED TO ‘BLACK TUPELO’
All writers of fiction depend on their imaginations. The more vivid the imagination, the better the writing. But there’s no replacement for experience, and that’s why Karen and I set off to follow the itinerary of my character Campbell Young as he pursued a scam artist named Wendell Honey through the American midwest. The route [...]
Beat the Cold with Still Waters
With the temperature siting at -17 Celsius here in Toronto and no relief in sight ’till Saturday and an Arctic blast striking much of the American Midwest with temperatures dipping down to -40 Celsius, what better way to escape the cold that has decended upon us then finding a comfy chair by a roaring fireplace and [...]
AMERICAN ODYSSEY REVISITED
In the summer of 2007, my girlfriend Karen and I embarked upon a 12,726 kilometre road trip which took us from Picton, Ontario, to Bayou Sorrel, Louisiana — via the Colorado Rockies and the Grand Canyon and Route 66, etc. — and back. The purpose of our journey, which lasted 34 days and covered 20 [...]
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