After Minay and I got married in August 1982 — yes, it’s been nearly thirty-two years, and she hasn’t killed me yet — I made sure I had an area to write in. Sometimes it was makeshift, like the corner in the second bedroom of our first apartment (which also served as our exercise room …
A few days ago, my wife, Minay, and I took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Cave Paintings of Lascaux exhibit that’s running at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. It will be here in Houston through March 23, 2014. It has already been displayed in Bordeaux, France, and at the Field Museum in Chicago. It …
I have a few pet peeves regarding language. One is that I think the word “allegedly” is often misused. If you pay attention to news broadcasts, you have probably noticed the constant use of the words “alleged” and “allegedly” in describing persons who have done something, most often associated with a crime. I’m not trying …
[Originally posted on my former blog, Michael Runs the Gamut] I’ve been writing all my life — plays, poetry, short stories, work-related writing, even a few stabs at novels — often with the thought of being published or produced, but I didn’t fully commit to it until five or six years ago. My excuse was …
[Originally posted on my former blog, Michael Runs the Gamut] As a former actor, I understand the trials of marketing oneself (and accept them, begrudgingly). Many of the things we do in life are contests of a sort. Job interviews are a competition against others to see who will win the prize of being hired. …
[Originally posted on my former blog, Michael Runs the Gamut] Yes, I know. I’m crazy. The idea of the 3-Day Novel Contest is to start writing at midnight when the Labor Day weekend begins (five days from now), and finish and upload your novel for judging before midnight on September 3rd. It’s like writing a …
[Originally posted on my former blog, Michael Runs the Gamut] Disclaimer, regarding the post below: No, I wasn’t texting and posting while driving. I wrote this in the present tense after the fact. It’s about 3:30 pm, and I’m on I-45, the freeway in Houston that runs north and south through downtown. South of downtown …
[Originally posted on my former blog, Michael Runs the Gamut] The most common question writers get asked is “where do you get all your ideas?” Every writer has a different answer, but many times what happens is the author read or heard or saw something that sparked an idea, and that usually followed by them …
[Originally posted on my previous website, Michael dot Sirois dot com] John Steinbeck agreed to be interviewed for the Paris Review in 1969 by Nathaniel Benchley, son of Robert Benchley and father of Peter Benchley (there are some writing genes in that family). When the time came, though, he was too sick to be interviewed. …
[Originally posted on my former blog, Michael Runs the Gamut] Just to get started, I’m declaring my intention that this blog will be about language and the art and business of writing. As Shakespeare said in Hamlet, “Words, words, words.” I’ll try to be coherent and helpful, but who knows what might pop out of …