Why journalists hate their life

Why journalists hate their life

It's no secret that the world of journalism is in flux. I spent over a decade in the world of newspapers, those fussy, papery things created by ink-stained wretches, and while I can't say I don't have an extreme fondness for those old relics -- I think they're wonderful, actually -- I can say that I don't have an extreme fondness for the visionless people who so often run news organizations. My friends still in the news business don't disagree. A good friend who is an investigative journalist with a fairly large regional daily has seen his office withering under…
So what’s next?

So what’s next?

Wait, what? One of my huge problems is attention span. Always has been. Always will be. Just ask the people who had the unfortunate job of being my teacher back in Lakehurst. What this means is that even when neck-deep in a major project or three, my mind is on what's next rather than what is right in front of me. This is true even right now. It's not like I'm not busy. I'm currently working on a follow-up to A Year of Hitchcock with Jim McDevitt, the third installment of the Pitched! anthology series with a number of fantastic…

Videos from Hurricane Sandy

In the days to come I'll be blogging on another site about this, but for now enjoy these visuals of what I enjoyed when waking up the morning after Hurricane Sandy struck. "Waking up" is a simple explanation, of course, but I'll tell the full story later. For now, here is what I saw when I opened my bedroom window in the morning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-OHXf3nQzM Looks worrisome, but by this time the water had come down by between a foot to two feet, so we were pretty calm by this point. Really! Still, this is how the backyard looked (you may…
I LOVE THIS GRUMPY ASS CAT!

I LOVE THIS GRUMPY ASS CAT!

By now, Tard the Grumpy cat is Internet famous. When I first posted her to a friend's Facebook page a few weeks back, knowing this friend would ADORE the amazingly expressive face on this feline, she was still just an out-of-the-blue cat picture I saw that reminded me of my cat loving friend. Now, though, Tard -- and that is her name -- is a full-blown Internet meme with scores and scores of pictures gracing her grumpy face. Don't just take my word for it. Google her. She's HUGE. Liking her is liking Rebecca Black's "Friday" now. Hell, even referencing…
Why would you write about your lousy little town?

Why would you write about your lousy little town?

I never saw my hometown 'till I stayed away too long. --"San Diego Serenade," Tom Waits This sort of sums up Lakehurst: Barrens, Blimps & Barons, a book I wrote and self-published about the tiny Pine Barrens town I spent years trying to leave. That's right. For most of my teen years, I wanted to get the hell out of that place. So if I spent years trying to leave the town -- and I jumped ship as soon as I could, fleeing at the age of 19 -- why would I spend the time to write and publish a…