Matthew Dicks's Blog, page 714

What I have to say

Toby Lichtig writes in The Guardian about how all writers repeat themselves.  That is, they seem to return to the same themes again and again.   

When I wrote SOMETHING MISSING, I had no idea what I was doing.  No idea what I was trying to communicate other than Martin's story.  I just allowed the character to show me the way, and low and behold, I had a novel. 

My second book proceeded along these same lines, and my third is proceeding similarly:  Find the character and the rest will...

On our way to Misty Valley Books!

This weekend, my wife and I will be traveling to Chester, Vermont, leaving our one-year-old daughter behind for the first time.  I am appearing with five other first-time novelists at a two-day event known as New Voices, sponsored by Misty Valley Books. 

Clara will be staying with her grandparents for the weekend.  While Elysha and I are thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in this extraordinary event, we're also dreading the prospect of leaving our little one behind.  Oddly...

Revelation

I just realized that my cat meows with question marks. 

Meow?  Meow?

Every time it's a question.  No wonder I find it so annoying.

Whats an author to do?

I was in the gym last week, running nowhere on a treadmill when I noticed that the woman beside me was reading SOMETHING MISSING. 

I was thrilled.  One of my first discoveries of my book "in the wild." 

But just as quickly as the adrenaline shot through my body,  I was stuck. 

What to do?

As a reader, if the author of a book that I was reading was standing beside me, I think I'd want to know and would hope that he or she would speak up.

But as an author, it's not so easy to look...

Who thought this was a good idea?

Can anyone explain to me why this graphic was chosen for the box to the McDonald's apple and cherry pie?

How to save the independent bookstore: Part 1

Since publishing my first book last year, I have had the pleasure of getting to know many independent booksellers, and my appreciation and respect for the independent bookstore has only grown.  These stores are owned and staffed by people who love books and are willing to spend great portions of their lives reading, ordering, stocking shelves, hand-selling their favorite titles, and talking about the books and authors they love most, all while not getting rich.

But these are troubled times...

You just cant throw away a mans crock pot. Can you?

WIFE:  Anyone local want a perfectly good but sort of old school crock pot? It works totally fine but was given to my husband by someone I really don't like and I can't enjoy a meal made in that thing.

ME:  My wife has systematically eliminated everything that I originally contributed to our household. The crock pot, which I didn't mind even though I can't stand the person either, was one of the last hold-outs. The last vestige of my bachelorhood. I think the only thing left is a paper...

Apologies for being so nice

I recently posted about my wife's many amazing qualities on the blog that I write to our daughter. I did not do so because I was currying favor. I simply wanted our daughter to know what a remarkable her mother is.

This evening, my wife chose to distort the fabric of time, thus plunging me into the Twilight Zone by attempting to refute the many laudable remarks that I made about her..

Get it? I write about my wife's greatness, and she decides to take the opportunity to debate the subject...

Siblings or Dating?

I received a decanter at a recent Yankee swap.  Apparently it is used to keep water at the one's bedside.  Everyone at the party over fifty years of age identified it immediately. 

No one under fifty had a clue what it was.

For a while, I had my hands on the gift that I had brought to the swap, which was the most sought over gift.  Naturally.  It was Operation, the iconic board game that turns players into would-be surgeons, "Now with silly sound FX!"

Attached to the box was a...

Getting through the day

A former student directed me to this amusing cartoon which could be seen as encouragement or discouragement depending upon your point of view.

Right?