Tag Archives: D.B. Jackson

Writing-Tip Wednesday: Plotting Or Not — Doing Away With a Dumb Debate

Posted on October 28, 2020 by dbjackson

This is my forty-second Writing-Tip Wednesday post of the year, and somehow I have gotten through forty-one posts without addressing that age-old writing question, “Do I or do I not outline?” Or put another way, “Plotter or pantser?” First, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Islevale Cycle, Novels, Thieftaker, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: Plotting Or Not — Doing Away With a Dumb Debate

Monday Musings: Feeding Birds, How to Get Started

Posted on October 26, 2020 by dbjackson

Earlier this year, in the midst of spring bird migration, I wrote about my lifelong love of birding. I shared with you what birding has meant to me over the course of my life, and at the end I made … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, Fun, nature | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Monday Musings: Feeding Birds, How to Get Started

Writing-Tip Wednesday: Real-World Influences On Our Fiction

Posted on October 21, 2020 by dbjackson

It’s also possible, particularly with our world as fraught as it is right now, that the sheer gravity of real-world events and conflicts will pull your story in directions you don’t want it to go. These influences are powerful, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, History, kids, Novels, parenting, Politics, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: Real-World Influences On Our Fiction

Monday Musings: How I’m Coping

Posted on October 19, 2020 by dbjackson

I’ve written about politics and social issues a lot in recent weeks, and I want desperately to avoid doing so again this week. It’s not that I don’t have more to say. I do. But I feel as though I’d … Continue reading →

Posted in cooking, Family, food, Music, nature, Novels, photography, Politics, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Monday Musings: How I’m Coping

Writing-Tip Wednesday: Descriptions and Point of View

Posted on October 14, 2020 by dbjackson

Description does not — cannot — take place in an emotional or circumstantial vacuum. Not that long ago, I offered tips on writing scenes involving sex and violence, and essentially said that dealing with such encounters is almost entirely a … Continue reading →

Posted in Character, Setting, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: Descriptions and Point of View

Monday Musings: Covid, Grief, and Lies

Posted on October 12, 2020 by dbjackson

And yet, his first act upon returning to the White House was to make a Mussolini-esque appearance on his veranda and ostentatiously remove his face mask. Last week’s Photo Friday post was about my brother’s memorial service, which took place … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, parenting, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Monday Musings: Covid, Grief, and Lies

Writing-Tip Wednesday: Anatomy of a Rewrite

Posted on October 7, 2020 by dbjackson

As I described in a recent Writing-tip Wednesday post, I have been working recently on a trunk series — a pair of books, the first two in a projected trilogy, that I initially wrote nearly ten years ago. I have … Continue reading →

Posted in Character, Novels, Reading, Thieftaker, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: Anatomy of a Rewrite

Monday Musings: Through the Looking Glass

Posted on October 5, 2020 by dbjackson

[Let me begin by saying this: I know the President is ill. I hope he recovers; I understand it’s possible that he’ll take a turn for the worse. I hope the First Lady and the growing number of public officials … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Monday Musings: Through the Looking Glass

Writing-Tip Wednesday: “Pitch Inside”

Posted on September 30, 2020 by dbjackson

In the mid-1980s, my favorite baseball player on the planet was a young pitcher for the New York Mets named Dwight Gooden. Gooden had a meteoric career that was shortened by injuries and chronic drug abuse. But for the first … Continue reading →

Posted in Character, Ethan Kaille, Fantasy, Islevale Cycle, Novels, Short Fiction, Thieftaker, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: “Pitch Inside”

Monday Musings: The Peaceful Transfer of Power

Posted on September 28, 2020 by dbjackson

For students of American history, the late eighteenth century is filled with consequential dates and events. The signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the end of the Revolutionary War in 1781, the meeting of the Constitutional Convention in … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Monday Musings: The Peaceful Transfer of Power