Writing

Larry Burns

My 8,000 mile writer’s retreat

For ten months I made the 192-mile round trip, arriving in Sunvale Village at sunrise. Typical days were filled with scavenging found materials from desert dump sites, repairing damage to the installation due to the harsh natural conditions of the Mojave Desert, and developing new story lines, context, and characters for Sunvale Village’s Facebook Page.

This fall, it’s time to spring ahead with your writing adventures

Writers need production goals. Deadlines help with open ended creative processes such as writing. Stories, as you may notice when they are particularly bad, can go on forever. Literally this is true so practically, you need a date on the calendar to work towards with the idea that you will stop, and the story will end. The frenetic pace leaves little room to question or consider. The deadline produces results. Pages and pages of results.

My interview with a tree fairy

Fairies are odd creatures. They typically know a good deal about a lot of things, yet they become known for just one or two key traits – few people realize that the Tooth Fairy can get your car started in a snowstorm and the Elf on the Shelf crafts a sublime PB&J. If fairies and people found more reasons to talk to each other, it will inevitably improve our lives, and the stories we tell.

If You Give a Kid a Library Card…

Libraries sparked my early love affair with books. My second grade teacher at E. J. Marshall Elementary School held reading contests to keep bookworms like me busy over the summer. A favorite childhood memory is Mom taking me to the Chino Library. I’d arrive with...

My Books

Click here to see titles in several genres. A common element? Characters learning about themselves through collaborative effort and finding beauty in the everyday experience. All make fine traveling companions.