Posting to Website

To simplify my life, I'm posting both the Talewright and NEVЯLAND blogs on my website.

This will also prevent me from duplicating blogs.

Basically, it boils down to this: Do I want to be blogger or a writer?

The answer is simple.

So, if you check here, you won't find blogs newer than this one.

Instead, tick HERE to go to the Official Domain to read the latest blogs about the writing life (Talewright) and for news about and the progress of my WIP, NEVЯLAND.

See you on the bookshelves.

Larry Mike

I'd Rather Dig a Grave for a Cat

I'm posting my blog on my web page from now on instead of WordPress, Blogger, and LiveJournal.

Here's an excerpt from the blog on my web page:

We all have a function and a purpose in life . . . and in death.

Each of us serves a different function and a different purpose in life . . . and in death.

The real trick is is to figure out which function and which purpose in life . . . and in death . . . we are serving at any given moment in Time and Space.

Click HERE to read the whole blog.

See you on the bookshelves.

Larry Mike

If I Weren't Crazy, I'd Go Insane

This is an experiment: workshopping my latest novel NEVЯLAND Online for readers and fans.

I'm running naked across the soccer field during the World Cup in front of God and everybody.

Am I crazy to do this? Of course I am.

But, I'm having fun, learning much, seeing Story from a different perspective, and enjoying the community of readers and writers in an organic writing and telling of Story!

One reason I'm doing this is because I live in the boonies and don't have a regular writers support group.

Another reason I'm doing this is because I still have yet to find a critique partner or two with whom he/she and I can be consistent and faithful in responding to and evaluating our respective stories. It's as much my fault as anybody else's.

And still another reason is because I value what readers think and how a reader looks at Story.

At the recent SCBWI, I heard one writer described as a writer's writer. That's really quite a mantle to bestow upon a writer.

Then I got to thinking: which would I prefer? Being a writer's writer or a reader's writer. Actually, somewhere in between would be the best place to be on the bookshelves.

The Twilight Saga is an extremely successful series with Readers despite that many Writers find much fault in the technicalities of the stories themselves; whereas, the Harry Potter series is mega-successful because it is able to run the entire spectrum of Reader-and-Writer approval and appeal to all sensibilities.

(To be honest, I really don't care which direction NEVЯLAND takes as long as the books are flying off the shelves and through the checkout line and/or being downloaded to many, many Kindles, iPads, and Sony E-readers!)

I'm inviting you not just to watch Story in the form of NEVЯLAND being created but to be an active participant--and I want to know what you think, generate ideas about the characters, setting, themes, and be an active participant in the evolution of a story--whether you're a Reader only or Writer-Reader.

The 19th Century Writers such as Dickens and Poe did this to a certain extent, often revising their novels, stories, and poems based on initial reader reaction.

The 21st Century Writer has an even better opportunity to workshop his Story to a larger audience and with much more speed and input than Dickens or Poe could ever imagine!


Feedback is welcomed, encouraged, and expected--even about the typos!

NEVЯLAND Excerpts: An Experiment in Craziness

See you on the bookshelves.

Be well!

Larry Mike

Staying Tuned to That Which is Around Me

Taking off from writing for over month has taken its toll.

I've enjoyed it, but it's time to get back to it. And I'm finding it a bit difficult to just plant butt to chair and pick up where I left off.

Not because I don't want to write, but because I have enjoyed Tuning In to the World around me so much that I don't want to spoil it by trying to capture it with feeble words and doggerel prose.

During my hiatus, I've been on a couple of adventures. I didn't write at all during that time. And I want more adventures without the added pressure of trying to capture it in scenes, conflict, dialogue, theme, and resolution.

I merely observed and absorbed.

I listened, smelled, touched, tasted, and saw.

I was awed by it all.

I got in tune with the World and Life again without the worry of "How would I describe this sound, smell, texture, taste, and sight in a story."

I just enjoyed the Time and the Place.

When we were at the Grand Canyon, Nadya, my wife, commented, "Pictures just cannot capture how beautiful it is."

And I thought, "Neither can words."

However, that's our jobs as writers and artists--capturing the Moment, the Time, the Place, the Essence as best as we can with the limited tools we've been given and trying to explain God, the Universe, and Every Infinite Thing with finite words.

And, yet, this inspires me to try to do just that--to reveal to others what I see, feel, hear, taste, and smell in my soul.

I've decided not to wait so long for my next re-Tuning. I need to be re-Tuned at least every four to six weeks.

To go somewhere and just experience without the thought of expression.

To absorb without worrying about wringing out the access.

To just Be.

See you on the bookshelves,

Larry Mike