Darius Jones's Blog: A Writer Begins, page 16

Check Out My Post Over at Sobotka

Hey everybody, the folks over at Sobotka Literary Magazine were nice enough to let me borrow their blog last week for a short post on “Verses about Moscow” by Marina Tsvetaeva. The post is part of their “Wordsmith Wednesdays” series where they unpack the words/verses in a poem or song. This week they’re covering a song by Nas’, a nice bookend to Tsvetaeva.

Check out my post and let them know what you think.

I’ll be back two weeks from now with a new post. I hope this tides you over until th...

4 Years of My Blog

Wow. WordPress is telling me I’ve been writing this blog for four years. (It’s actually a bit longer than that since the blog started over on Goodreads). I can’t believe it. So, today, I want to do a quick look back and, more importantly, a look ahead.

First, here is the first post on my blog from July 20, 2012:

Well, here goes nothing

My first novel has just been published. It’s on the Amazon Kindle store here. It’s also on Goodreads.

Please take the time to leave a review. And a big tha...

My New Story Is Out in Sobotka Magazine

Great news! My new story “Barabanchik” is out now in Sobotka Literary Magazine. You can pick up Issue 4 of the magazine here.

I’m happy because it’s my first story published this year. I won’t say much more than that, but will include the start of the story here, in the hope that it gets you hooked:

A man looks at the world and sees phenomena, perhaps self-contradictory in nature, and goes about trying to explain them. In ancient times, these explanations took the form of myth. Why do the se...

Viva Cervantes! Why the Spanish Writer Matters More than Ever

[SPOILER ALERT: This post contains plot details from Don Quixote.]

I’m very selective about the writers I like. For those who truly move me, I perform a special ritual in return. I visit their resting place. I can count on one hand the number writers’ graves I have visited (five in total). Cervantes is one of them. Why? Because after 400 years, his prose remains fresh, vital and vibrant.

I mean think about it. What other writer resonates across 400 years like Cervantes???Oh! Right! That Eng...

Off for Some Vacation

I hate to write and run again, but alas, I must.

It’s almost July 4 over here and I’m far, far behind in procuring the necessary fireworks for our nation’s annual festivities as mandated by several county ordinances. I also have to go to an out-of-state wedding. So, you can imagine the state I’m in. [Forgive my pun.]

The good thing is that Sobotka Magazine (see cover nearby) is about to launch a new issue with my story “Barabanhik” in it. It will be the second time seeing my name in print and...

Moving House—and Books

Hey everybody, just checking in. Moving house this weekend. As part of that, I’m taking 10 boxes of books with me. If fact, when I move, it feels like it’s mostly books. Anyway, not much time to talk/write today, but wanted to let you know I’m still out there writing and creating.

So, here’s a quick update on the writing. Getting admissions and rejections back from publishers and will send my play to the proofer soon. Next weekend, I plan to get back to writing drafts in earnest. Looking for...

Gone to Denver

By the time you read this, I will be safely away. Away from work, from writing, from the big city.

I imagine right about now I should be out in Colorado, the Denver area, to be somewhat precise. I’m probably on some hike, coming around a ridge and looking out on a scene just like that one right here. And maybe there’s a bald eagle out in the distance or an elk or a mountain goat looking right back at me, as if to say, “What’s up?”

I’ll probably be breathing fresh air with a hit of pine resin...

Free Form

Need to feed the blog beast, need to feed the blog beast… Need to feed…the…

I’ve had a lot of good ideas for blog posts lately, stuff about Cervantes, aikido, Poe… But I’m not motivated to write any of them today. Feeling bleh and blah. And the rain outside, in about its 40th day, isn’t helping.

So…What to write? What to say? Nothing much. So, no theme or topic comes to mind. Might I just free-form? Ron Burgundy style? No. Instead, I will tell you where my writing is at. How about that? Here...

Write On

Hey Guys, taking a break from the blog this week, so that I can just edit, edit and edit some more. I have a big project (the play) I want to wrap up and that HAS GOT TO BE THE TOP PRIORITY.

I will be back in a couple of weeks with a more substantive post.

Until Then,

Darius

Writing Update—An Acceptance

Well…Well…Well…

Here we are two weeks later and I feel like I could be blogging again about the passing of another music legend. Sigh. Big Sigh. Losing Prince sucks. Just as much as losing Merle Haggard or David Bowie…But I don’t want to make this blog too much of a downer. And there are others who are bigger fans and far better placed to do a proper homage to the Purple One. And also, these guys wrote songs about “this thing called life.” And we, the living, have to continue, must continue…...