Well, of course I only know what it feels like to me personally. And I'm never sure a piece is really finished until it's in print, and that might be never. You can think you're finished any number of times -- basically after each draft -- but I think The Paraclete is really finished this time in the sense that I won't work on it any more until and unless the book goes under contract and the publisher wants revisions. So how does it feel? I write from a deep well of emotional

The Taj Mahal gleams white in the morning sunshine, a spectacular sight when you arrive ahead of the throngs of tourists later in the day. But the Indian city where the iconic mausoleum is located, Agra, is not so shiny, we learned at the latest salon. Poet, fiction writer, satirist and journalist Peter Gregutt described his actual travels and read selections from his (virtually finished work-in-progress) The Armpit Traveler, a collection of essays loosely satirizing the sty

Peter Gregutt will discuss his book, "The Armpit Traveler" at our next salon this Saturday, March 18, at 7:00 p.m. in the Microscopic Theater. The text of the book is virtually complete, but the illustrations are yet to be created. Peter has traveled extensively all over the world, and his book takes a highly creative and comedic look at just what traveling is all about, and his personal take on how to get the most out of it. A published poet, fiction writer, satirist and

You see here a picture of a homunculus painting the stripes down the back of a frog. I first saw this picture as a framed print hanging on the back wall in Mrs.Hays' third grade classroom at Coggin Elementary School. I was nine and ten years old that school year, and I believe something profound and a little strange happened to me that year. According to developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst Erik Erikson, age ten falls within the period when a child experiences a "cr

My friend Terry Beck, a Brownwood boy and my contemporary, is about to launch national distribution of his first two books, A Train of Thought, and I've Been Thinkin', both of which have enjoyed wide popularity in and around Texas for the last few years.* Upon hearing this news, I picked up my copies of these delightfully entertaining books and browsed through them again, re-reading some of my favorite stories and anecdotes. As always, Terry's tales of the old days led me to

Drama boy, there is no need to die. Rather, you may come to this small, paint-spattered artist's table in this small park, and with your sharp knife cut open the flesh under which you keep that little box. Take it out and review the contents, which are you, barely recognizable, squinting in the light, your homunculus. He will be fine.