THE BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY A little boy sat on a rock that overlooked a verdant valley. The sun was rising. One side of the valley soaked up the sunlight as the darkness faded. The other side remained covered in the cold shadows of the approaching winter. The eight-year-old dark-skinned Read more…
WRITE LIKE HEMINGWAY? Who wouldn’t want to write like Papa? Ernest Hemingway is one of my favorite writers. I’ve read most of his works, some over and over many times over the years. Even bought and listened to the three-volume audio version (read by Stacy Keach) of Hemingway’s The Short Read more…
OUR DIVINE PARENTS Under the stars of a moonless night, deep in the forest, Shishya, an eight-year-old dark-skinned boy, sat facing a small lake. Next to him sat his master. “Bapu,” the boy said, pulling his guru’s saffron-colored robe, now dark without color in the night. Bapu, the white-bearded old Read more…
MICHAEL ARNDT – LEARN FROM THE MASTER Several years ago I attended the Hawaii Writers Conference (now defunct), where Michael Arndt, an Academy Award screenwriter of Little Miss Sunshine, spoke about how to craft a great ending. What Michael Arndt discussed was inspiring. He made a lasting impact on my Read more…
A GRAIN OF SAND For six days, Shishya, an eight-year-old dark skinned boy, and his guru, Bapu, a white-bearded old man wearing a saffron robe, traveled through a barren land seeking for a place of rest. They reached a seaside village. At the marketplace, they found two men in ardent Read more…
STEVEN GOLDSBERRY’S TAKE ONGREAT STORY TITLES What first catches the eye and mind—while browsing through a bookstore for a good read to buy, or flicking through your on-demand movie selections for a good film to watch (ignoring the jacket cover designs)—is the “title.” Title is as important as a well Read more…