Ken Wheaton's Blog, page 20
February 22, 2013
How to Write a Novel
With the publication of my second novel, Bacon and Egg Man (Nook), a number of people have reached out to me expressing admiration and mild jealousy. Some of them I knew were writers. Others were a surprise. Still others were completely imaginary and I’m using their imaginary questions as inspiration for a blog post. But the message tended to be the same. HOW do you do it? You must be so disciplined. You have a non-academic, year-around day job and still find time.
While I like a good ego stro...
February 20, 2013
Bacon and Egg Man: Paper or Plastic?
How should you read my new novel, Bacon and Egg Man? Obviously, with a work of art this layered and so thematically complicated, one must approach it carefully. After all, what do we mean when we say “bacon”?
Mmmmmmmm, bacon.
Where was I? Oh, how should you read my book?
With your eyes!
(Buy the book at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.)
But seriously, some folks seem to get a little confused or ashamed or something when it comes to ebook vs. paper books. In general, I don’t care how you read the book as...
February 16, 2013
A Ghost Story: The Stanley Hotel
So much for all that. I’m sitting up here by the Jesus billboard in downtown Estes Park, trying to keep the Rocky Mountain winds from ripping through my ghostly guts. I just lost my job haunting The Stanley Hotel.
I don’t know what came over me. It’s a plush gig. That’s not to say anyone can do it. Lot of ghosts show up here looking for work, but a lot of ghosts are just regular people. The surfer bro who still thinks knock-knock jokes are funny. The accountant with the braying laugh. The woma...
January 27, 2013
REDRUM and All That Jazz
Perhaps re-reading The Shining a week before staying at The Stanley Hotel is not the wisest thing to do. I’m only 90 pages in and I’m already having aural and visual hallucinations in my apartment. I can’t imagine what will happen in the place that inspired Stephen King to write the novel–a place that delights in selling ghost tours and K-meters and Redrum mugs.
I’ve always been a complete chickenshit. My brother — my younger brother — can attest to me sleeping with covers over my head and oft...
January 14, 2013
So Something Blew Up in Brooklyn Last Night
One a.m. in Park Slope. We’re dead to the world sleeping. Well, I am. And Cara is likely thinking of beating me with a shoe due to snoring. Then….
KABLAMMO!!!!
Something explodes. And a smoke alarm starts going off. Somewhere. Trying not to have a heart attack and wishing I hadn’t spent the afternoon at a friend’s eating red beans and rice and drinking bourbon, I pulled on some jeans and a t-shirt and flip flops.
I ran into the backyard. Looked up, down and all around. Nothing. Just the infernal...
January 13, 2013
Sweet Baby Breesus (at Home)
Biscuits, boudin, bacon, cane syrup? Sure, why not. The Sweet Baby Breesus is one of the signature items of The French Press in Lafayette, Louisiana. And if you’re anywhere near there, go grab some brunch. Certainly a lot easier than doing this at home. Hell, if you don’t live in Louisiana, getting the right kind of boudin is damn near impossible. You might even have trouble finding the cane syrup.
Cara wanted this, so I figured I’d give it a whirl. Especially after our friend Sara made it for...
January 7, 2013
Bacon and Egg Man — The Cover
Oh. Hi. Happy New Year. Fancy seeing you here. There’s something I’ve been meaning to show you. Look at this. It’s a cover for a novel.
Bacon and Egg Man — February 2013
Bacon and Egg Man. It’s being released next month by the good folks at Premier Digital Publishing (more on them later). As you can see, my name is scribbled across the top of this cover. That’s because I wrote it. Yay for me, etc.
Let me tell you about this cover.
After signing on with Premier, I didn’t quite know what to expec...
December 20, 2012
The Silver Linings Play, er, Movie
Recently, I spent a couple hours at the local cineplex taking in The Silver Linings Playbook. The movie, starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Bobby Deniro, was written and directed by David O. Russell. It was also based on the novel The Silver Linings Playbook, written by Matthew Quick.
I’m a fan of Quick’s and was a huge fan of this book, when a few years ago my old blogging buddy Angela suggested I send the manuscript for The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival to him. Full...
Come again?
Overheard in New York.
Lady 1: I think I’m gonna go for a pedicure.
Lady 2: What?
Lady 1: If I have time this weekend, I’m gonna go get a pedicure?
Lady 2: A pet store? What do you gotta go to a pet store for?
Lady 1: A PEDICURE.
Lady 2: Ohhhhh.
