Dale has spent the last year realizing that all of his lives—personal, professional, and creative—refuse to take the expected path; and that there is plenty of turmoil to temper each triumph.

A lifetime ago he got a degree in advertising just as he realized that he wanted to write stories instead of blurbs, and has spent the intervening years as a journeyman computer hack and finding his creative voice.

At various stops along his writing journey, Dale would have said that he wrote science fiction, black comedy, fantasy, contemporary fiction, farce, or short fiction. But he’s now learned enough about himself to say that while he may not stick to any genre, his best writing explores the power and possibilities of creative dialogue.

Not Myself – The Red Book, 2010
Soon to be Written – The Yang Book, 2010

coming soon

Rough Draft
Write Anything – Tuesday Columnist

coming soon

I’ve never really done much collaboration. My ex used to chide me that I don’t play well with others. I think that criticism is a little off target—I think it’s more accurate to say that having been shy all my life, I’ve just never had much experience working with others.

As one of ten authors this project involves much less collaboration than something like co-authoring a story, but I’ve learnt a good bit about the process of collaboration.

First, there are others relying on you. It’s easy to make excuses about why you can’t write when you’re the only one relying on yourself. The kids are too noisy, I have a headache, it’s late, I’m hungry—I’ll write later. It’s much more difficult to make excuses when you have someone to answer to. Whether it be the authors who have already met their deadlines, or the ones who are waiting for you to finish so that they can get started. Or maybe you don’t want to disappoint the editors who chose to extend you the invitation in the first place.

Second, it is more difficult to write when you can’t control your starting point. While I have wiggle room, I don’t have free reign in choosing my main character or all the events in my story. But I also can’t go back and tell the previous authors to rewrite their stories to suit me. Nor would I want to, because the goal of collaboration is to make something with a variety of influences.

And third is the corollary, that it is more freeing to write when you can’t control your starting point. If you’re like me you can obsess for weeks over the minutia of inspiration, carefully picking characters names, and layering meaning and context for the idea to be just right before getting down to the rough draft. But with a shortened timetable and having part of my story laid out for me, I have less setup to worry about.

Of course, each of these points also has cons that go along with it, but it’s difficult for me to focus on the negatives right now, because I’m writing. And that’s not something I’ve been able to say very often lately.

I’m a long-time insomniac. And for years I’ve wanted to write a story about insomnia. No, that’s not correct. Not a story about insomnia, but a story where insomnia is a major player. This isn’t that story, but it is that story’s relative—maybe its 3rd cousin.

When you haven’t slept for a long time it becomes everything in your life. It alters the way you see the world. The waking hours where you are capable of conscious thought become filled with thoughts of sleep…anger at those who can sleep…anger at everyone because you can’t.

I have had two bouts of sleeplessness longer than the one mentioned in Not Myself, and with the exception of one symptom, which is taken from a well-known study of sleep deprivation, all the symptoms in this story are from my own experiences—although with a notable lack of gothic architecture in the cities where I have lived, instead of gargoyles other inanimate objects acquired voices.

To truly convey the feeling of sleeplessness would take longer than the space available in this story. The seed that began to grow this story was actually the idea that a missed opportunity can create such turmoil in someone that they find themselves unable to get out of their circumstance. The insomnia just seemed like a good fit for the character.