Matthew's Blog
A Small Post-Op Hip Surgery Success
I had another small post-op hip surgery success this week. I am back at 24 Hour Fitness doing early morning workouts. Not only that, one of those early morning workouts is doing the elliptical trainer! Now, using the elliptical trainer might not seem a big deal to...
My One Week Twitter Vacation
Last week I took a complete break from Twitter: Sunday through Sunday. I logged off from both my iMac and my iPhone and not once during the week did I sign back on. I didn’t tweet out my blog posts (which I still published daily). I didn’t check for direct messages,...
Regional History: Write What You Want To Know
One aspect of novel writing is research. Since my current project requires understanding the history and pre-history of the Pacific Northwest's indigenous population, that's what I've done. Specifically, I’ve spent the last two years reading about the Native Americans...
A Reference Book I Use: Garner’s Modern American Usage
Although I haven't read Garner’s Modern American Usage from cover to cover, I do occasionally refer to it when writing, and I often just flip through it for pleasure. I especially like to periodically reread the essay* in the preface section, Making Peace in the...
The Whirlpool Of Pop Culture
For on one side lay Scylla and on the other divine Charybdis terribly sucked down the saltwater of the sea. Verily whenever she belched it forth, like a cauldron on a great fire she would seethe and bubble in utter turmoil, and high overhead the spray would fall on...
I’m an Interrobang‽
At a recent writer’s conference, the agent Jeff Kleinman (Folio Literary Management) asked us to consider what punctuation mark best represents our main character. My main character, a mathematician, strives to sees everything in a very concise way. She is a period....
Career Change and Patience
A significant career change requires two elements: letting go of the old and adopting the new. The first time I did this was when I went from engineer to physician at the age of 28. Even then, with the help of a “change architecture”—my medical school—it took a solid...
My Kindle Reading Today: James Rollins
In my blog post Considering How I Read to Help Inform How I Write, I mentioned that I use my Kindle for light, fun reading—usually novels, and usually at odd hours in the middle of the night. ( The Kindle in dark mode is perfect for reading in bed at 2 a.m. without...
Can Professional Writers Schedule Creativity?
I don't believe writers can schedule creative—at least I certainly can’t. But I do believe they can create an air-tight system of idea capture, and then they can schedule time in front of their keyboard to develop one of those ideas. In fact, I’d say it's these two...