Columns and Editorials

I've been reading essays by several other authors recently, mostly at the new site www.storytellersunplugged.com , and I've noticed a trend I can appreciate. More and more I see people taking the old tired clich

I wanted to take some of my space to comment on a phenomenon that has grown from small roots, back in the 1970s or so, I'd say, into a frighteningly prevalent trend. Simply put, why has America become obsessed with remaking things that were fine in their original form? Worse yet, the newest trends seem to lean toward remaking things in forms that don't even match well enough with the original to actually be considered remakes. I think the TV advertisements for the new Kojak series put me over the edge, but it probably happened a long time before that.

Over the course of 20 plus years of writing, I have been asked myriad questions, and seen some of the same questions asked of, and answered by, more writers than I care to date myself by mentioning. I thought, after all this time, and without the irritant of someone asking in e-mail, or while I'm sitting on some panel that they are only attending so that they can have a good seat for the s

Over the many years of my career as a writer, I've found myself in just about every collaborative situation in existence, and I thought maybe it was time to pass on what I've experienced, learned, and observed during this time. Why? Well, two reasons, basically. The first is that I'm an arrogant, incorrigible know-it-all, and spouting my own opinions is one of my first loves. The second is this: collaboration is not like any other writing experience you will ever undertake. No matter what the two inputs might be, the output, if the creative process is truly shared, will be unique.