Ramblings – Robert J. McCarter

Living in Carterville and Time Traveling

October 20, 2020 by Robert J. McCarter

2020 has been a difficult and unusual year. You all are living through it too, so you know what I’m talking about. The COVID-19 pandemic alone would make it a very unusual year much less the racial tensions, political madness, unprecedented wildfires, hurricanes, flooding, and economic disaster (and a bunch more has happened since I started writing this post a couple of weeks ago). This new reality changes things. The obvious huge things (illness, death, …

Vegas, Baby!

March 30, 2019 by Robert J. McCarter

In early March, I spent a week in Las Vegas at a workshop all about writing for anthologies and getting to understand how editors choose stories. I was one of 50 writers who wrote a bunch of stories, and then we read everyone’s stories to get the editor’s eye view of things (that was 1.3 million words!) and then the editors put together nine anthologies and talked about all 300 stories while we all watched. …

Why I Quit Writing (Almost, Kinda, Sorta)

April 19, 2016April 18, 2016 by Robert J. McCarter

While this blog is focused on my recent experience with writing, the principles apply to whatever your passion is. Writing Is… Writing is easy: you’re just making things up and recording them. Writing is hard: it’s a subjective art and getting better is challenging and talks a long time. Add on to that the endless rejection and the fact that you have to learn a business as well as an art and it can be …

New Passions at Any Age

March 15, 2016 by Robert J. McCarter

See those smiles. That’s my wife, Aleia, and I after running our very first 10k last month at the Sedona Marathon. I’m 52, my wife is a tad older (being a gentleman and being married for so long, I shall not divulge her age). This day was the highlight of our year so far. Why? Well for me, it’s a brand new adventure. I only ran briefly as a boy and hated it. For my wife it’s …

Making Art With Your Friends

October 8, 2015 by Robert J. McCarter

Writers are strange. Their imagined worlds are often so compelling that the “real” world has trouble keeping up. Writer brains are different, they will imagine a character they love and then imagine all the ways they can make that characters life a living hell (often with a triumphant ending, of course). They think about story constantly. What works and what doesn’t. What satisfies and what disappoints. How we learn from story and how we are …

Wayne’s Legacy

October 11, 2014October 4, 2014 by Robert J. McCarter

Ten years ago today, my dear friend Wayne died. Wayne was young (just shy of 43) and danced with cancer for thirteen months before his death. The ending was difficult and sad. Wayne’s contribution to my life is anything but. He has changed me for the better in so many ways. I’ve blogged about Wayne before. Here and here. On this anniversary, it only seems right to reflect on Wayne and his legacy in my life. …

What is Enough?

March 29, 2014 by Robert J. McCarter

Live is busy, isn’t it? Not just a little either–it seems to demand more of me than I think I have on a regular basis. Maybe you too. I’ve got my day job (programming) and my writing job (if you’re here, you know about that) and my non-profit job (helping my wife do her amazing work) and we’ve been remodeling our bathroom and dealing with all the other things a life brings. And for a …