Yada Yada Yada

How I do go on...and on.

This week, over on the fine ComicsCareer.com, I go on about the writer's 'voice,' the way we try to say whatever it is we have to say in our own, distinctive way:

"Writers also have voices, or at least they should if they’re worth anything. Young writers have older writer’s voices that they borrow and, if they have any talent, build upon to find their own voice. Older writers work a long time to hold on to whatever voice they ultimately find and keep it fresh and nurture it along to maturity along with their lives and their writing."

Blowhard III

The third installment of my column, Things I've Learned Along the Way, is up at ComicsCareer.com in which I babble on aimlessly about the creative process, specifically how we have no idea how it works, just that it does:


"It isn’t magic or voodoo. It just feels that way, but it works the same for writers and artists as it does for scientists and engineers. (I'll bet) Einstein had one of those 'E equals mc...hammer?…nein, nein…mc, mc…squared! Eureka!' moments while taking a dump..."

Who Asked Me?

You want my advice? Normally, I'm not much for giving it, but every now and then some bit of wisdom about writing or the creative process would occur to me and I'd write it down. Before I knew it, I had seven or eight of columns worked up, right around the time my old friend Kirk Chritton of ComicsCareer.Com contacted me to ask if I would answer his "Ten Questions" for his website. I was happy to do so and, while I was at it, inquired as to whether he would be interested in running my "Things I've Learned Along the Way." He was, he is, and you can read the first installment now, with new columns running every Monday.

Capes, Cowls & Costumes is on the Air!

And, for those who care, there's a new installment of Capes, Cowls & Costumes up on Bookgasm.com! This time around, I take a look at novels written by comic book writers that are not comic book related, including Steve Englehart, John Byrne, Jim Starlin and Warren Ellis. It's fun...and it's free!

My 50th Post!

To celebrate, go on over and take a look at the latest installment of Capes, Cowls & Costumes, my column on Bookgasm.com. It's easy, fun...and free!

Read All About It!

The third installment of CAPES, COWLS & COSTUMES, my column for Bookgasm.com about superhero tie-in novels is up and running so please stop by and check it out: This time around, I take a look at comic book movie novelizations. Even without CC&C, Bookgasm is a must-read site...I'm just some icing on the cake.

A Columnist is Born

Rod Lott edits the most excellent book review site, Bookgasm.com, "reading material to get excited about," covering every sort of literature, from Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited to DC Comics' latest Showcase Presents the Legion of Super-Heroes reprint. I read it daily and discover at least one book a week I might otherwise have passed by (including Paul Malmont's tremendous The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril). A permanent link to Bookgasm can be found in the links section to your left.

Beginning today, I join the ranks of Bookgasm.com reviewers with a new column, Capes, Cowls & Costumes, which will regularly cover comic book tie-in novels, old and new. I'm a lifelong collector of such books and, really, what better way to justify the 300 or so volumes on my shelves than by writing about them! So, I hope you'll stop by, take a look at Capes, Cowls & Costumes, as well as the rest of the reviews and columns featured thereon, and let me know what you think in the comments section there or right here on "And Then I Wrote...".

Thank you.