J. Timothy King
Etude in Black and White
I was watching an old Columbo episode, “Etude in Black,” in which conductor Alex Benedict murders his star pianist Jenifer Welles, to prevent her from revealing their secret love affair. As a musician myself, and knowing a little something about the piano, I thought it might be fun to rewrite one of the scenes of […]
Anybody Go to BU? (and NaNoWriMo Update)
According to my writing spreadsheet, I’m on track to finish NaNoWriMo, but I’ll need to come up with more scenes in the novel. I’m averaging 616 words per scene, which is around half what I had originally estimated. Not a problem, because I have a number of additional, unplanned scenes already on the back burner, […]
Driving in Boston 2
(This is part 2 of a roast of the Boston driver. Click here for part 1.) The situation is exacerbated at rotaries. For those of you who may not be familiar with the Boston rotary, it is a complex, multilateral intersecting way, with no stop signs, at which everyone goes at the same time, and […]
Finding the Answer to the Meaning of Life
I’ve been absent here, because I’m working on a new novel. After collecting mounds of marketing data, I’ve discovered that I absolutely must write Confessions of a Veteran Software Developer— That’s not a novel, but a true story of my years as a professional software developer. However, I have to find a new title. (Apparently, […]
Driving in Boston
Nothing requires so keen a notice, so focused a concentration, so large and intimidating a vehicle, as does driving in Boston. When we first moved to Boston from western Pennsylvania, we were both intrigued and horrified to see public roadways under construction, with potholes dug the size of the Great Lakes and manhole covers raised […]
Another One of Those Weeks
It’s turning out to be another of those weeks, when I get very little accomplished. I completed a couple posts scheduled for the next couple weeks, and tomorrow will be posted the first part of a 2-part humorous series, a roast of the Boston driver. And I also picked up writing a novel I began […]
What’s in a Cat?
Proof that God has a sense of humor is that he created cats. We share our apartment with a sleek, black cat, whom we call “Tessie,” a high-strung Burmese (or something thereabouts). I call her my Spooky Cat, because she has always been terrified of any living creature, and a few dead ones. When we […]
Shoeboxes Full of Gifts
Yes, maybe Thanksgiving Comes First, but in this case, we actually do need to get started on the Christmas stuff early. This year, as last, my church is participating in Operation Christmas Child, an annual charity drive conducted by Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse. Each year before Thanksgiving, Samaritan’s Purse collects wrapped shoeboxes, each packed with […]
Making Fun of FedEx
Original photo by Jon Scheiber, © 2006 CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 … or, “So I didn’t actually expect to get my package, did I?” My cell phone died earlier this week. In technical terms, the charger-connector-thingee broke. And that means I no longer have a working phone. Therefore, I am dying of loneliness, because I have […]
Keeping to Regular Deadlines
I have up at BeTheStory.com a blog conversation with Kevin Cummings, humorist and author of the new book Happily Domesticated. We talk about his history as a writer, his writing process, and (of course) his book. He does most of the talking. One of the things that I admire about him is that he keeps […]