Articles - WOJW

Creating Emotions

Wednesday, August 7th, 2013 @ 7:01 pm Articles Jeff's Blog | 4Comments

I was recently on vacation with my family and watched my eight year-old daughter come to terms with absolute terror. My oldest wanted to go on a ride at the Santa Cruz boardwalk that propels you vertically like a rocket and then zips you up and down, kind of like... Read More

The History of Faith and Authorship

Saturday, May 4th, 2013 @ 8:03 pm Articles Jeff's Blog | 2Comments

I’d like to give credit to my wife for coming up with the idea for this one. She made a comment recently after reading another batch of reviews that there are subtle themes that tend to repeat in the reactions of my readers. Some love the elements of faith and... Read More

The Soul Crushing Self-Doubt of Writers

Sunday, April 7th, 2013 @ 1:44 am Articles Jeff's Blog | 3Comments

I recently saw a tweet by Kate Danley, one of my colleagues at 47North, author of The Woodcutter. It went like this: “Except for the soul crushing self doubt, being a writer is grand!” That spoke to me... Read More

Why the publishing industry is like Downton Abbey

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012 @ 11:13 pm Articles Uncategorized | 7Comments

One of my guilty pleasures lately has been Downton Abbey. I enjoy the characters, the setting, and the story. An element that strikes me is how the world of Downton changed with the onset of World War I. What was disrupted the most? The lifestyles of every character. There is... Read More

Hanging out with Percy Jackson

Saturday, February 4th, 2012 @ 6:45 pm Articles Uncategorized | 2Comments

My life took an interesting turn the last few weeks. By the end of December, I had a few hundred readers enjoying Muirwood and my other books. As of this writing, the number is about 12,000. More people have started on Muirwood in the last week than all of last year combined.... Read More

A Manifesto on Virtue

Saturday, January 7th, 2012 @ 2:33 pm Articles Jeff's Blog | Comments Off

When I was in college at San Jose State, I took Latin classes from Marianina Olcott. That is where I learned about the Roman concept of Virtus (pronounced “where-tuus”). It was a trait that the Romans respected, but it did not mean just virtue. It included other qualities too: prudentia... Read More

Ovid’s Metamorphoses

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 @ 7:04 pm Articles Jeff's Blog | Comments Off

"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." (Eccl 1:9) I've heard the cliche before (no new thing under the sun), but I experienced it recently working on... Read More

Joining the pirates

Saturday, April 24th, 2010 @ 5:54 pm Articles Uncategorized | Comments Off

I'm impressed with Brandon Sanderson. I first learned about him back in the days of Deep Magic, the e-zine that some friends and I published many years ago. He had just come out with his first novel (Elantris) and I managed to interview him for the 'zine and also enjoyed... Read More

A writing career…

Monday, February 8th, 2010 @ 5:01 pm Articles Jeff's Blog | Comments Off

It was interesting (or ironic) that I was going to write a blog posting today and happened across an article in the LA Times. Gotta love Google News feeds. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-ca-endurability7-2010feb07,0,4119789.story What struck me about the article is how broken the publishing system is today. It has not transformed fully... Read More

Young people reading less

Monday, November 19th, 2007 @ 5:00 pm Articles Jeff's Blog | Comments Off

A week ago I was in New York City on a business trip. While I was eating a burger in Central Park and enjoying the beautiful day in Manhattan, I thought about the agent I was still waiting to hear back from. Funny how thoughts can trigger actions. Friday when... Read More