Category Archives: Blog

Whatever it takes

whateverAn artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn’t know why they choose him and he’s usually too busy to wonder why. He is completely amoral in that he will rob, borrow, beg, or steal from anybody and everybody to get the work done. The writer’s only responsibility is to his art. – William Faulkner

Writing is kind of difficult. Even if you write only for yourself, or maybe especially when you write for yourself. It takes an enormous amount of courage to write about things you’d much rather forget, to confront serious issues. It takes a lot of courage to write something most people would never have the courage to write. Continue reading →

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Happy endings

happy_endings“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” Orson Welles

Sometimes when I write I think too much. I worry about things I shouldn’t worry about, and I write as if I’ve got something to prove to someone. That’s a mistake. Over thinking, trying to outsmart the reader only to outsmart yourself.

When I wrote Jazz I wanted for the ending to the story to deliver a certain message. Throughout the novel there’s some talk about happy endings, about what we want to get from life, and stuff like that. Of course, those characters are mistaken in their belief that happiness is a destination, but nevertheless… they want and try to reach for something, and they’re not even sure what that something is. Continue reading →

Interview with Karen Robiscoe

graphic insert 1Every once in a while I feel like doing things differently on this blog. And so I decided to interview Karen Robiscoe, an avid blogger and author I’ve come to know through the WordPress Blog-o-sphere. *looks worriedly toward crashing sounds emanating from the kitchen*

Of course, I wasn’t really expecting to find the lady on my doorstep this morning, but I have to admire her get-up-and-go. She certainly got up and went *winces at the sound of shattering glass * and who knew she even had a passport? Continue reading →

Six days…

That’s right. We’ve only got six more days to raise a little more than $500.

544 to be exact.

I’d like to thank Diane Randall, Catherine Johnson, librarylifehack, Patrise Henkel, and all the others who contributed to this campaign.

Because this is quite a big amount that needs to be raised, I’m going to launch a new offer: anyone who contributes to this campaign, regardless of the amount, will receive a free e-book copy of my upcoming release, a novella entitled The Art of Being Alone Without Feeling Lonely. This novella will be released in about a week, before I’ll release my next novel, One Third of a Wheel.

So, yeah, you can contribute here (any amount) and regardless of the perks (if any) you select, you’ll also receive an e-book copy of this new release. You can contribute here, and don’t forget, any contribution matters.

Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby

The-Great-Gatsby-Baz-Luhrmann-myLusciousLife.com-Carey-Mulligan-Leonardo-DiCaprioMost of you already know that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is my favorite novel. I’ve made a custom out of reading it once a year, so I just had to go see the movie on the night it premiered here in Constanta.

And I wasn’t dissapointed.

Baz Luhrmann managed to produce a movie with strange qualities, most of which will appeal only to those who have read and loved Fitzgerald’s novel. When it comes to book to movie adaptations, most producers are maybe too keen to leave their own mark, to change things and show us what they see. Luhrmann shows us how this decade sees this classic novel, how our decade sees decadence and opulence and slowly peels off all the greedy, dark layers of human nature in this modern world. Continue reading →

The little things…

thingsWe’ve been told (and we keep on telling ourselves on a regular basis) that life finds a way, that somehow things turn out for the better. That if you want it, you can have it.

Sadly, that’s not true.

Do you know what keeps me up some nights? It’s the fear that somehow I won’t be able to write anymore. That somehow life’s going to take that away from me. And that I won’t be able to find a way, that life just won’t want to present me with a solution. Continue reading →

Weekend ad sale

saleFor a two day period you’ll have a chance to buy advertising on this blog for half the usual price. Here are the options:

  • Post Sponsor – $15 - Receive a mention as sponsor at the end of a blog post. This also includes a short description of your website and a link.
  • Text Ad – $25 – Your name (or your business/blog) listed in the sidebar, along with a short description (20 words or less) and a link to your website. One month of advertising.
  • Sponsored Post – $50 - I will write a blog post about your blog, or review one of your books, or interview you about your art. That’s right, this post is restricted to art related blogs/websites. You choose how you want the blog post to be, and what you want to contain. Also, the post will be kept “sticky” at the top of my website for an entire week.
  • Graphic Ad – $125 - A 300X250 graphic ad in the sidebar of my blog, linking to your website. I can design the ad for you, at no additional cost. Nothing illegal or immoral though. One month of advertising.

The only thing you need to do is to add a valid e-mail address when you buy the chosen ad option, so I can contact you. That’s all, basically.

Why failing is (kind of) a good thing

failingThey say you can’t beat a man who doesn’t give up.

The first piece of writing I ever wrote was rubbish. And I kept on adding more rubbish. Then I wrote something else. And then someone said I was a retard. And I wanted to prove them wrong.

I’ve failed time and time again. In all aspects of life.

The first novel I self-published sold 4 copies in 4 months. It got a single 2 star review on Goodreads, and then I unpublished the damn thing.

And yet I didn’t give up.

Continue reading →

A lonely job…

lonely“An artist is always alone – if he is an artist.” – Henry Miller

Writing is a lonely job, no doubt about it. And no matter how successful you might become, you’re still alone. It’s the inexorable truth of the writer’s condition: you sit at your desk, in an empty room or in the most crowded McDonald’s, and you’re alone. You just do your thing.

Of course, this poses a rather interesting question: if you spend that much time alone, how do you find stuff to write about? Continue reading →