Writing

General posts about writing (sometimes my own, but not always)

FICTION: The Girl and the Gold Watch

March 12, 2012 0 Comments

This short piece sprang from a title an online acquaintance threw at me, one I thought he had made up. The title was so evocative, I immediately got a vision in my head of a little girl and … well, you can read it below. The problem? He hadn’t made it up. That was a poor assumption on my part. The title was The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything, and it belongs to a book I did not know existed. Regardless, it inspired this short piece of fiction that will maybe one day turn into a full-blown book. With a new title, of course… The Girl and the Gold Watch By Eric San Juan “You know I haven’t the money for that, Sissy. Put…
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Works by Eric, Writing

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Why I chose to self-publish

March 2, 2012 0 Comments

When I decided to take Lakehurst: Barrens, Blimps & Barons and publish it on my own, I did not take the decision lightly. After all, I had been on a modest roll, with three traditionally published books I authored or coauthored hitting shelves in three years. Advocates of self-publishing are often driven by a “screw the man! Don’t let corporations decide what deserves to be published!” attitude, which is in and of itself not a bad thing … they just forget to tell you how much work self-publishing is, and shrug away any explanation of what traditional publishers do for authors. I’ve been happy with traditional publishers. My first three books — Stuff Every Husband Should Know, and coauthor on A Year of Hitchcock and…
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Random Musings, Works by Eric, Writing

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Writing is like acting

February 28, 2012 0 Comments

Sometimes, two seemingly unrelated worlds have more in common than you realize. Consider the worlds of writing fiction and acting. To some extent, writing fiction is a lot like acting. When you’re writing fiction you’re also playing a role, or rather, many roles. Part of your job as a writer is to immerse yourself in these characters. To know them with a great degree of intimacy and, most importantly, to guide their actions in a way that feels natural and believable. You’re trying to convince your audience that these are real people facing real obstacles, not pawn’s in the author’s plot. So part of being good at writing convincing characters is the ability to be a good actor. You can’t just write yourself. You can’t…
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Writing

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Five years ago…

February 24, 2012 5 Comments

A Year of Hitchcock

Jim McDevitt, my friend and coauthor of A Year of Hitchcock, just sent me this email: Last night I stumbled across some old MySpace blogs I had written back in 2006-7. On Feb. 24, 2007, I noted that I had finished writing my part of A Year of Hitchcock. If I recall correctly, you finished your part a few days later. Hard to believe it’s been five years. Five years. It really is hard to believe. Things have felt like a whirlwind since. A Year of Hitchcock was my first published book, the culmination of a lifelong dream, and remains something I’m proud of. Others followed. Stuff Every Husband Should Know, the recent Barrens, Blimps & Barons, and contributing to Geek Wisdom, along with two…
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Alfred Hitchcock, Random Musings, Works by Eric, Writing

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Always thrilling when someone reads your work, but…

December 26, 2011 0 Comments

… nothing has been as personally gratifying as the response to my book on Lakehurst. I’ve written about legendary film directors, relationships, geek culture and more, but this is something special to me — and it’s made even more special by the fact that old friends, teachers, people I knew in my youth, their parents, and many others are getting it and are interested in it and are reading it. I’ve gotten random calls at home, emails from people I’ve never met, invitations to do presentations and interviews, requests to sign books for the holidays, and more. Considering I just sort of quietly slipped it out there at the last minute, no adverting or promotion outside this blog and Facebook, the positive response has been…
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Works by Eric, Writing

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