Monthly Archives: March 2008

Stop trying to be Hemingway

Some aspiring writers look at the lives of total wrecks like Ernest Hemingway and his ilk and think that the only way to be a good writer is to put yourself through hell, then go to drug treatment and then start writing. I suppose if all you want to write about is addiction, drinking and …

March 24, 2008 – 2:16 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in creativity | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Less glamorous writing opportunities

Some writers just don’t recognize or appreciate the opportunities to write that life lays before them. While they dream of writing the great American novel, they’re unwilling to put pen to paper for some ad copy at their local public television station or help a friend running for a local office craft a speech on …

March 24, 2008 – 2:10 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in Tips on getting published | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

Many types of writing bear many fruits

Sometimes I think a nice long vacation to a completely different area, say Branson resorts or a biblical tour of Israel, would be a great way to charge up the ol’ creative batteries. But then, time away is often time away from writing as well. And writing is what writers do, if they’re to be …

March 24, 2008 – 2:02 AM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in Tips on getting published | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Movie sequels that might work

Considering so many movies that aren’t that entertaining get greenlit for sequels, it’d be nice to see something a bit more rare happen: that a movie with a loyal cult following gets a worthy sequel. Clerks II proved that the idea can be done, if not exactly proving that it always works. Here’s a couple …

March 17, 2008 – 2:42 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in creativity | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Moonlight without a show runner

In a professional writing environment, this strike-shortened TV season has shown the importance of developing a succession plan in creative environments. One of my favorite freshmen shows from this season, Moonlight, is a great example of just why. Moonlight, the sudsy CBS drama about a vampire private eye, started off life last spring with veteran …

March 17, 2008 – 2:33 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Some topics are almost too painful to be entertaining

One of the trends in drama that I’m actually glad has gone out of vogue is the focus on people going through their alcohol rehabs. Sure, there have been some intense and emotional movies made on this topic, such as Michael Keaton’s Clean and Sober or Sandra Bullock’s 28 Days, but considering that alcoholism has …

March 17, 2008 – 2:25 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Thoughts on mortality

My wife’s father is someone I never had the chance to meet; he passed from this life years before my wife and I ever met. I’ve been told that his death was due, in large part, to mesothelioma. Another brush I’ve had with cancer is when both my mother and the mother of my next-door …

March 17, 2008 – 2:13 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Published and in print!

If I can turn this into a nice little roll, it could soon be time for me to forget about truck tool boxes and other such concerns and focus a bit more on my writing. For several months now, I’ve been hinting that I had an article published by a Jack the Ripper-centric true crime …

March 17, 2008 – 2:01 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in published | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Reliable network equipment saves headaches

I’ve never used Cisco-based networking equipment, but after the experience my wife and I had using LinkSys for our first home wireless network, I’m beginning to think we’d have been better off. The LinkSys product just wasn’t reliable or speedy and since upgrading to a new brand, only now do we know the difference. Sometimes …

March 17, 2008 – 1:49 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

Another wacky late-night idea

One would think that with the days of corsets long behind us, people would be only too eager to leave the past in the past; yet period dramas are as popular as ever, which at least keeps the corset business alive in the entertainment industry. It would be perhaps interesting to focus a drama around …

March 4, 2008 – 11:24 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in late night writing | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Review: MS Word 2007

OK, I’ll admit I’m not the quickest on the draw on this subject, but when I was forced by circumstance to upgrade to a new computer, an Acer Aspire, I was given a chance to sample the new Microsoft Office 2007 for 60 days for free, before deciding whether to buy. As a writer, of …

March 3, 2008 – 11:30 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Assignments at odds

One doesn’t always get Amazon coupons for writing an excellent blog entry, or an excellent script, or even an excellent joke. For real writers, though, writing isn’t just about compensation; it’s about communicating something through storytelling, or, if not exactly storytelling, then through effective written communication of the non-story kind. I’ve recently taken on a …

March 3, 2008 – 11:04 PM | By Craig Hansen | Posted in writing | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)