Proof Enough
One a full fringed red, the other nearly black, both proof that a flower does not need much of an excuse to be beautiful.
ReadResearch notes and process writing
Journal
An Apple a Day
A stack of apples arranged themselves into something more anatomical than the produce aisle usually offers. An apple a day, apparently, in more ways than one.
ReadFrom Compton Land to ComptonWorld
ComptonWorld started as a weekend joke, a wacky billionaire's theme park called Compton Land, before the premise turned into something with real weight. A note on how a punchline became a novella.
ReadUnconvinced
A sign near the enclosure insisted the zebras were resting indoors, too worn out by the noise and the stares to come out. The zebras, unconvinced by their own signage, were standing right there.
ReadMountain First, Money Second
A note on the order things have to happen in, years spent searching for Truth before there was wealth in the picture, and how that shaped a character who tried to do it backwards.
ReadA Cottage for Later
This kind of roof belongs to a cottage deep in a dark forest, the sort a story might open with. I may still write that one.
ReadThe Man Who Gave It Away
A street-interview video about a wealthy man who spent a year living unrecognized on the street, then quietly gave his things away and walked back into his old life, is where Dicky Weed began. A note on the stranger behind the character.
ReadWhat Outlasted the Maker
A mosaic wall built by hands long since finished with the work, the kind of craft that outlasts anyone who might ask who made it.
ReadNot the South, Just the Saw
Bone Saw began as a break from a longer, slower book, and grew into an American gothic anchored to an object instead of a place. A note on where the idea came from, and what it cost to write the amputation scenes.
ReadFifteen Feet
I was close enough to this brown bear, maybe fifteen feet, to understand exactly how much respect a six hundred pound animal deserves. Some encounters do the humbling for you.
Read