The Cactus Eaters by Dan White

I like to think of myself as a writer, like to pretend that I can string together the odd sentence here and there and make it sing.  But I have to admit that I was constantly humbled by the word play of Dan White in The Cactus Eaters.  It’s the story of an idiot and his one true love walking the Pacific Crest Trail, a little hiking path that runs from Mexico to Canada through some of America’s last great wilderness. Here’s a couple of the sentences: His joylessness made him stand out like the shy one at an orgy.…

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Writing and~Uh, Not Writing

I’ve got a couple of weeks off.  It’s not all that unusual, but it’s not all that common either.  So I am writing.  Sort of. I have the better part of a rough draft, which is the easy part for me.  I need to add a snappy opening, slap in a few transitions here and there, and viola! it will be ready for that dread 2nd Draft.  Then I go back and make sure everything makes sense and start to re-write a bit of the dull parts and try to pour some life into them. Editing has always been my…

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