Blog – Page 24 – JEFF GARVIN

5 Tips For Finishing Your First Manuscript

May 13, 2014
Writing

Finishing your first manuscript is a rite of passage for any aspiring novelist. It is the end of the beginning. It is a threshold beyond which “someday” is no longer a vague notion, but a tangible moment. And, at times, it seems impossible. Finish a whole book? No way. It’s too much. Too big. But...

Guest Post: Jonathan Yañez

May 8, 2014
Music, Writing

WRITING TO MUSIC by Jonathan Yañez No matter how many schools I go to, book signings I attend, or speeches I deliver, I can always count on one question to be asked. “Do you listen to music while you write? And if so, what do you listen to?” Everyone wants to know if writers have a secret...

Sequel to the Nightmare

April 24, 2014
Fiction, Personal, Uncategorized, Writing

Overlook by Melanic Mimewerks [deviantART] THE SHINING I first read Stephen King’s The Shining when I was eleven years old. As you might expect, I suffered from recurring nightmares for six weeks afterward. In addition, I swore off Mr. King’s books until 2011, when I picked up On Writing—and...

Meiko: Leave the Lights On

April 16, 2014
Music

CANDY COATING I’m a rocker at heart–one glance at my hair (and tattoos, and clothes, okay I get your point) will tell you that. I cut my teeth on Nirvana, R.E.M., and Guns ‘N Roses. But I do loves me some good pop music, especially anything with a quirky vocal or an alt or indie...

Under The Influence

April 5, 2014
Music, Personal, Uncategorized

Billy Joel’s “An Innocent Man” Music and stories are more than entertainment to me. I’ve read books that seemed to express my deepest self better than my own words ever could. I’ve heard songs that somehow captured years of my life perfectly in under four minutes. In this series, which...

Winger

March 5, 2014
Fiction, Writing

Sometimes a great book sneaks up on you, humbly disguised as a merely good book. Here’s an example from the movies: I liked The Sixth Sense quite a lot, right from the start–but [SPOILER ALERT] when it turned out that Bruce Willis’s character had been dead the whole time–I loved it instantly....