Daily Archives: October 23, 2013

A series of thoughts on writing by Joe R. Lansdale

Source: http://www.joerlansdale.com/writing.shtml

Below are some excerpts from this web page. To see them in fuller detail, as well as other thoughts, go to the link listed above.

1. When I write I seldom know where it is going. I discover this every day.

2. I try and do a reasonable amount each day so I’m a hero every day.

3. I write each day until I feel myself starting to fizzle.

4. I don’t prepare for the next day’s work when I finish.

5. Another thing that works well for me is to read a little before I write.

And there are four more, which can be found at http://www.joerlansdale.com/writing.shtml

He does admonish those reading his guidelines that they are not etched in stone rules, immutable, unalterable, unchanging. He writes that anyone who takes them as hard and fast rules should be “tarred and feathered. Well, made to stand in the corner.”

He also says that writing is a passion and not an obsession for him. Passion is “good and fun.” Obsession “feels a little like you’re stalking yourself.”

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A little about Joe R. Lansdale, from his web site:

Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale is the author of over thirty novels and numerous short stories. His work has appeared in national anthologies, magazines, and collections, as well as numerous foreign publications. He has written for comics, television, film, newspapers, and Internet sites. His work has been collected in eighteen short-story collections, and he has edited or co-edited over a dozen anthologies. He has received the Edgar Award, eight Bram Stoker Awards, the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Grinzani Cavour Prize for Literature, the Herodotus Historical Fiction Award, the Inkpot Award for Contributions to Science Fiction and Fantasy, and many others. His novella Bubba Hotep was adapted to film by Don Coscarelli, starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis.

For some more information on Joe R. Lansdale and his work, go to http://www.joerlansdale.com/