Welcome to “Follow Your Nose Fiction, A Blog About Writing By A Guy Who Writes.” It’s purpose is to give me and hopefully you something different than the remote sharing that takes place between writer and reader. Not more, just different. After all, how could this be better than being inside a book, except perhaps, writing one? But sometimes a writer wants a break from the solitude of his pursuit, wants to reach out to others for some conversation about reading and writing. In my case it’s almost always – but never entirely – about fiction.
Because you have gotten down to this paragraph, it may well be that you might enjoy the conversation I am looking for. Talking across a coffee table would be terrific, but here we are in cyberspace where that is not possible. So, I hope a few of you story lovers will join me in a back and forth about writing and reading fiction. For me it will be a fine complement to following my nose alone down trails through thickets of events and feelings toward unexpected ends. Toward discovery. Toward getting my hands (and yours, if I am lucky) around experience. So let’s have a chat or two.
You may ask, “What will we talk about?” I hope it includes whatever you want, but I will prod you with my curiosities. Let’s just see where this takes us. You will have a lot to say about where we go. You can start with the posts I’ve already put up, and the responses. Go ahead scroll down through them. See what interests you enough to venture an opinion or ask a question. You can even sign up and receive notices that a new entry or a comment has been posted.
You might also ask what I mean by “following my nose down story trails.” Well, I begin a story when an impulse rises within me and seems to be seeking a place of greater repose, rather like an internal itch demanding a good, long scratch. It is the beginning of a trail that compels me to follow. Often that means I must navigate pathless woods until I find one, then stay on it or turn off at a fork to see where that one goes. I give the journey my silent attention, my wonder, imagination, and words with hardly a plan: no plot, timeline, synopsis, or character summaries to confine me. My nose to the ground, I seek generous gifts for myself: stories that may help me get my hands around a piece of what it means to be alive and offer a few readers the same…or at least entertain them.
Thanks for coming to “Follow Your Nose Fiction.” I look forward to hearing from you…and talking with you.
Jim
This is great, and I do it too…..
“I begin a story when an impulse rises within me and seems to be seeking a place of greater repose, rather like an internal itch demanding a good, long scratch. It is the beginning of a trail that compels me to follow.”
Lisa – MFA student and budding novelist
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Good to see you online, Jim
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Joseph, I remember you well as a student, and it sounds like you are doing well. I look forward to your joining the conversation. Be well.
Jim
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Good to see you the other day, Jim. We shall see where the tangled skein leads us,
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Yes, good to see you as well. I look forward to your joining the conversation.
Jim
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Good luck with this Jim! I’ll drop in from time to time.
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I subscribed and trust your confidentiality. However, if within the next week Jehovah’s Witness’s appear at our front door, I’ll know whom to blame! Best wishes on your efforts.
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When you have time, Marty, I’d love for you to join the conversation. Thanks for following.
Jim
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Glad to know you Jim.
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Good to read you here, Jim. I’ll be following you here from now on. Greetings from Chile.
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Thank you the invite to join in on the conversation. I always so many off the wall things I like to talk about. Thank you again.
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Thank you for the invitation to join in on the conversation. I am a lover of books, stories, writing– all fiction. So your blog here is interesting to say the least.
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Sorry for the delay in my response. I am still figuring this out! I look forward to your responses to my blog posts. Check out the videos, too. Be well. Jim
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Catherine, I think I failed to respond to your comment. I hope your finding my blog interesting brings you back. I’ve begun posting videos of my conversation with a poet friend. I had fun doing the interview and hope that folks will enjoy the way I’ve broken it into a dozen short videos about writing fiction. Be well, Jim.
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Thank you for the link, this looks like a fun place to hang out. I’ll be sure to stop in now and then to see if there’s anything I can contribute.
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Hope, you will be most welcome. Jim
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Hey Jim,
Good stuff! Thanks for the invitation and I’ll be dropping back in.
Lisa B.
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Interesting, Jim. I like the follow your nose analogy. Much like a dog seeking a lost child, or a hungry man following the delicious smell of food to his wife or mother’s kitchen…
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Ojay. Terrific analogy! I will remember that and may have to “steal” it from you in a post or comment on Twitter or Facebook. Take a look at the blog posts. I’d love to hear your responses to them. Be well.
Jim
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Ojay, check out the videos. I think you will like them. Jim
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Hi Jim. It is a pleasure to meet you.
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I try to post at least once per week. It’s usually something that might interest readers and writers. I welcome your response including raising different subjects.
The idea is to create a cyber conversation around a virtual coffee table.
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