Musings from the basement...

These Are the 5 Authors Who Made Me Want to Write

January 4, 2016 4 Comments

Writing begins with reading. There is a vague rule of thumb that good writers read. A lot. Granted, reading a lot doesn’t mean you’ll be able to write. It’s a start, though. And without question, the thirst with which I drank in books as a daydreaming kid, and later as an in-way-over-my-head young man, had a huge huge huge (three huges) impact on my later, and very ridiculous, decision to devote my life to writing. It led me to journalism and books and other stuff, and these days, it has me working as a freelance writer. Which is amazing and stupid and can barely buy me coffee in the morning, but it’s so worth it (and SHAMELESS you should totally write me at ericsanjuan@gmail.com and…
Read more

Books & Authors, Uncategorized, Writing

, , , , , , ,

For 2016, a new short story every month

January 1, 2016 1 Comment

I’m blessed that writing (sort of)(barely) pays the bills. But one result of taking something you love and turning it into work is that it becomes an obligation rather than an escape. You HAVE to do that if you want to make a living from it, of course — I would have faltered years ago if I didn’t decide that I had to prioritize writing in the same way you do any other job — but you lose a little of what drew you to it in the first place. For me, it was the joy of playing with words; of creating people and situations out of whole cloth; and of looking at a page and saying, “Holy shit, I made that!” These days, I…
Read more

Uncategorized, Writing

, , , ,

Why did Boardwalk Empire lose me?

December 29, 2015 0 Comments

Boardwalk Empire. Oh man, everything about it was right up my alley. It was a well-polished period piece with smart writing, great actors, the involvement of Martin Scorsese, gangsters, and it was set here in my home state of New Jersey. Plus, I’ve said before that HBO does awesome television. So why the hell didn’t it click with me? And I mean, it TOTALLY didn’t click with me. I only made it halfway through the first season. Like anyone with as lick of sense, I loved the setting. Great production values, great cast, great premise, and the pilot episode was pure Scorsese, which is to say it was frickin’ AWESOME. Yet for some reason the series just failed to hold my attention. Can’t place my finger on why, either….
Read more

Television

, , ,

These are the 5 Best Christmas Songs. Deal with it

December 24, 2015 3 Comments

Look, if we’re honest with ourselves, Christmas songs kind of suck. “White Christmas” is an exception because it has one of the greatest melodies ever written — that’s an objective FACT — but otherwise? Christmas music is awful, awful, awful. There are exceptions, though, and I’ve identified the five best, because I am awesome. Not as awesome as these Christmas songs, but it’s pretty damn close. 6) U2 – Christmas, (Baby Please Come Home) You thought this list was going to be “edgy,” right? (Get it?) This one throws that assumption right out the window (though admittedly, it’s a red herring). Sure, it’s the most traditional one here, originally done by the amazing Darlene Love, but whatevs, yo! Bono’s grating earnestness is PERFECT here. Their…
Read more

Music, Videos

, , , , ,

I’ve got to get the hell off Facebook

December 23, 2015 2 Comments

More and more these days, I’m finding myself reconsidering my relationship with Facebook. It has nothing to do with privacy issues (though they are quite real), Facebook’s sketchy business practices (ditto), or a desire to have a smaller Internet footprint (as an author, I actually need a larger Internet footprint). It’s not even because I do social media marketing on a freelance basis, and hence burn myself out on surfing Facebook (I do it under a different account than my personal account, anyway). It’s because the atmosphere is turning me into the kind of negative, cynical, angry person I long ago left behind. I’ve been down that road. I have no intention of revisiting it. It’s not who I want to be. Perhaps it’s the…
Read more

Rants, Uncategorized

, , ,