FROM COPULATING DOGS TO TURKISH BUSES; RESEARCH, ITS UPS AND DOWNS
All fiction requires some research. Sometimes it is minimal. For my Appassionata story, I decided on a metaphor as a foreshadowing device, two street dogs [...]
FOLLOW UP; ALBEROBELLO, THE LECTURE SERIES AND MIM
I did finish Appassionata, my complex story about Alberobello in Puglia, Italy, set to various classical pieces for solo piano. Once I had my back [...]
ICEBERGS AND APPASSIONATA, THE CHALLENGES OF CHARACTER
As I devour my writing lectures, I struggle with a difficult story that has already failed twice. The teacher is giving general instructions about plot, [...]
ACCENTS IN WINE; SAME AS LANGUAGE
Can wine speak? And if so, can it speak in accents?If you get to know certain wines well, you'll find that they indeed do [...]
BUYUKADA; NOT ENOUGH DRAMA
Several years ago, I wrote about a visit to Buyukada in Turkey, an offshore island in a chain known as the Prices' Islands that Istanbul [...]
DINNER AND WINE WITH A ROCK STAR, SAMMY HAGAR
When I accepted our friend Kelley's invitation to dinner at far away Mill Valley, Marin County, north of San Francisco, including a nearby hotel to [...]
YET ANOTHER WRITING COURSE; DO I NEED IT?
Abraham Verghese, doctor, Stanford professor and accomplished author (if you haven't read his Cutting For Stone, a masterpiece novel, please do) once famously lamented about [...]
ON MULTIPLE PROJECTS, MEMOIR CONVERSIONS AND CHARACTER NAMES
I no longer have the luxury of writing at a leisurely pace and taking a year to complete a story. I have set a deadline [...]
1601 BAR AND KITCHEN; THE FRUITS OF GLOBALIZATION
My wife Julie has recently been hitting the jackpot with her selection of offbeat restaurants in out-of-the way corners of San Francisco. She did it [...]
THE TROUBLE WITH TESTICLE TALK
My first five stories came back from my editor Mim. We communicate by e mail. The stories go out to her as a Microsoft word [...]