Chuck Palahniuk's new book, Consider This: Moments In My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different (out now) is largely a writer's guide for beginning fiction authors. There's a nuts and bolts review of fundamental story components like the passage of time, the establishment of authority, clear and effective dialogue, and the creation and maintenance of tension. That primer is paired with guidance about how to use those and other building blocks to make your writing more powerful. It's a MFA-quality "intro to writing" course at an affordable price. The information is undoubtedly useful for professional writers. However, the book... Read more →

Hi everyone, Welcome back. How are you? Does January seem to be going by quicker than usual for anyone else, or is it just us? I see there's new snow on the driveway, but it doesn't look like it's going to require much shoveling. BDH and Little Buddha saw a group of runners go by here while it was still dark outside. Well, they mostly saw the runners' head lamps more than anything else. They asked if I ever consider going out for a morning jog, which made me laugh. They also asked if we were ready for some coffee.... Read more →

The last few weeks have been somewhat challenging. It's probably a combination of mixed feelings about the holidays and the fact that it gets dark at 4:00 in the afternoon, because that's just a drag. As a result, my daily thoughts seemed to be steadily narrowing. It's not just that I couldn't think outside of the box. I was only staring at the center of the box, which is no fun. Having had enough of that restriction, I took a trip to the bookstore hoping to find something that might help me shake things up like a snow globe. The... Read more →

Hi everyone, Welcome back! Come on in. How are you? We're still trying to regroup from this week. BDH and Little Buddha think we should take it easy today and focus on starting over tomorrow. I'm inclined to agree with them. The New England Patriots have the week off, and there's nothing we really want to see at the movies, so the idea of laying low until Monday is appealing. Speaking of Monday, given that it's Veterans Day, we'll be running our annual post, and then we'll be back to hang out with you again on Tuesday. In the meantime,... Read more →

Hi everyone, Welcome back. How are you? Any big plans for the weekend? I think we're mostly just going to celebrate that this week is over. We're still bummed out about the Clutter Tree, and there have been a handful of other annoyances which have us grumbling. Everything went sideways as soon as we changed the clocks back, I tell you. BDH and Little Buddha just said the high for today will be 37 degrees. Yikes. At least the heat works. Well, enough griping, let's check out today's headlines. The guys made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD,... Read more →

Demi Moore began her career as a model. She then started her climb to fame as an actress in the early 1980's with a role on the soap opera General Hospital. She eventually came to be known as part of the "Brat Pack," a group of young actors and actresses who were the "it" kids at the time and appeared in a number of movies together, including St. Elmo's Fire. The group also included stars like Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Emilio Estevez (who was engaged to Moore at one point.) From there, the actress had... Read more →

Journalist Ronan Farrow has been in the headlines for the last few years, due to his 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning expose on disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's long history of sexual assault and harassment. It was a tale known for decades by many in the entertainment industry, but his victims and others with knowledge of his behavior were afraid to speak publicly because of fear of retribution. Farrow was able to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together, but he ran into unexpected resistance from his bosses at NBC. The network killed the piece and then eventually fired Farrow.... Read more →

Hi everyone, Welcome back! How are you? The forecast calls for rain again all day today. It didn't really happen yesterday, but BDH and Little Buddha encouraged me to take my umbrella anyway when I head out later this morning. Better safe than sorry, and all that. I think I might have to turn on the heat in here pretty soon. The three of us can handle the slight chill, but it's not great for the plants. That's going to require the usual moving things around to get some of them away from the radiator. For now, let's check out... Read more →

Hi everyone, Welcome back! Come on in, have a seat. How are you? BDH, Little Buddha, and I were just talking about how I should do a small grocery shopping later today. Nothing too crazy, mostly just a few snacks, I think. Is there anything you'd like? Don't worry, coffee was the first thing the guys put on the list. Speaking of which, there's a fresh pot on the counter, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, and let's clear out some Thursday Clutter. (As always, if you'd like to support our coffee budget, please consider using the Clutter Amazon... Read more →

Hi everyone, Welcome back! BDH, Little Buddha and I were just looking at the headlines, and there's nothing going on today. No big stories of national importance that could decide the fate of democracy in the country or anything, so we were thinking about just going back to sleep and trying again tomorrow. Does that work for you? Of course we're kidding. The guys just made a fresh pot of coffee, and you know what we're here to discuss. Grab yourself a nice medium DD, and let's clear out some Wednesday Clutter. (As always, if you'd like to support our... Read more →