From the monthly archives:

April 2009

New House, New Wife, New Book

by Joseph on April 23, 2009

So, it’s been a laughably long time since I’ve updated here, but things have been hectic. I’ve had an offer accepted on a house, have been doing a bit of freelance, and have been actively searching for something more permanent job-wise in the Fox Valley. The PAC is hiring a copywriter, which is perfectly in line with my skill set, but jobs are scarce and competition is stiff.

I’ve been working diligently on my own writing to fill the void, and I’m very near completing the second draft of Charlie. A lot has changed since Charlie was in his infancy, but the spirit of the book remains in tact. I think after I polish the last 50 pages or so I’ll be left with something crisper and cleaner that will be ready to withstand the scrutiny of the publishing world.

This is a brief post after a long lull, I know, but I’ll leave you with the following nugget:

Before William Faulker published his first novel, he was the post master of his college town. As a postmaster he was notoriously fickle, opening the office on days it suited him, closing it on days it didn’t. He acted as jazz-era spam filter. He threw out catalogues and other bulk mailings, and kept the magazines he liked to read.

When it became apparent that his days at the post office were numbered, Faulker decided to beat his bosses to the punch and submitted this–one of his finest pieces of writing in my opinion. Enjoy.

“As long as I live under the capitalistic system I expect to have my life influenced by the demands of moneyed people. But I will be damned if I propose to be at the beck and call of every itinerant scoundrel who has two cents to invest in a postage stamp. This, sir, is my resignation.”

William Faulker Resignation

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Crosswords

by Joseph on April 2, 2009

Crossword Holschuh

If you’ve done any poking around the site you may have noticed a semi-broken link to the “Crosswords” writing samples page. I say semi-broken because the link is functional, but it only brings you to a site that says, more or less, that crosswords are coming soon.

With my recent acquisition of Crossword Compiler, that soon may be sooner than I’d hoped. I haven’t studied the ins and outs of the product just yet, but it promised to help me along in my crossword writing quest. I’m very wary of software that promises to help make people better writers. I’m not a technophobe…I’m particularly enthusiastic about books or audiotapes or videos that promise to make people better writers either. I believe–and I think that any good writer will agree–that the only way to become a better writer is to write. Or maybe read. But definitely, definitely write.

It’s true for fiction, it’s true for journalism, so I can’t think of a single reason it would be different for crosswords. I will say, though, that Crossword Compiler comes with a nifty set of dictionaries and word lookups that I expect will be handy in a pickle.

This program also gives me the ability to save crosswords in an online-publishable format. This means, that with the right software, I’ll not only be able to publish my puzzles in a nice-looking fashion–I’ll be able to publish them in a nice-looking and playable fashion, which should spice things up over at the Writing Samples page.

At any rate, I still need to figure out how to do it, so if you have any suggestions contact me.

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