Musings from the basement...

Revisiting an old music collaboration

September 23, 2009 0 Comments

It’s hard to believe that it’s been four years since I made this first blog post. It’s even harder to believe that it’s been four years since Tim Granda and I spent a few woozy Thursday nights at his apartment in Red Bank, NJ recording the music mentioned in that post. Sadly, while those sessions created some awesome memories and solidified a good friendship, musically all that resulted were a few rough sketch ideas and two semi-finished songs. I hoped to finished at least a third before we were through, “Keep It On,” heard here as two rough idea sketches, as I really liked how that one was coming together, but it was not to be. Tim fell in love and moved away, and that…
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Music, Works by Eric

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Getting through those difficult chapters

September 22, 2009 0 Comments

Sometimes the words don’t come. It’s not a matter of not having ideas, it’s that the ideas won’t come out. You sit down, place your hands on the keyboard knowing you need to get something done … but nothing happens. You don’t have any words. I’ve had a few of these nights recently as I’ve tried to get back into the swing of things. Six weeks away from writing ended up being far too long. As I previously blogged, for me routine and momentum are absolutely vital in staying productive. Short breaks are fine, but those extended breaks can put a real damper on your ability to get back into a productive frame of mind. It doesn’t have to be that way, of course. With…
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Writing

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Poll question for Hitchcock podcast

September 21, 2009 0 Comments

If you’re following the Alfred Hitchcock podcast I do with Jim McDevitt (and if you’re not, why not?), take a stroll over to the official blog of the Year of Hitchcock podcast and cast a vote in our new poll. If you’re not listening, now is a GREAT time to start. Jim and I will be sitting down this Saturday for a marathon recording session, during which we will discuss classics such as Rebecca, Suspicion, Shadow of a Doubt and Notorious for future episodes of the show. Feel free to leave us questions right here on this blog or on Facebook. We’ll read them on the air!

Alfred Hitchcock, Films

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Do not pester the editor!

September 16, 2009 1 Comment

As some of you may know, I am an editor in my day job. That means I get plenty of letters, emails, faxes and calls from people who want to see their stuff in print. Press releases from marketing firms, mostly (I work in local newspapers), but other items, too. Let me share with you my least favorite call in the world: “I’m calling to confirm that you got my email?” Do not do this. I could go on a bitter tirade about why it’s irritating and why it’s unnecessary and why it defeats half the purpose of email, but I’m not feeling curmudgeonly today. Or at least, only mildly so. I don’t feel like ranting. So instead I will simply say: Do not do…
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Rants

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Back to the keyboard!

September 15, 2009 0 Comments

After taking a long break from writing, as of last night I am officially behind the keyboard again. Or in front of the keyboard. Whichever. It’s been about six weeks, which is as long as I’ve gone in quite some time. Sure, I had a good deal of work to do on my comic anthology during that time, but by the end of the process it wasn’t writing that needed to be done, it was largely administrative stuff and layout work. So last night, after another superb episode of Deadwood, I sat down for a short writing session. Got back to work on my dystopian science fiction novel, which has its flaws but is coming together okay. When I feel a little better about where…
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Writing

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