Author Archives: mcbruce56

Ok, now I’m going to share something very personal and somewhat uncomfortable. If you don’t like such things, fast forward to the next funny entry. Since I was a boy I have suffered from a diagnosed mild to moderate depression. It’s been with me since I was seven, when my parents split up. It wasContinue reading “The Sadness”

If there is one rule for blogging–and I suspect there are more rules than just one–it is: Make it exciting. Sorry. I am not an exciting person. I am a dull and stupid man, as one of my now-defunct (MySpace!) blogs was called. Really. Look over the topics on this site. Does anything excite You?Continue reading “Make It Dull”

I suppose it was inevitable. After writing four book-length manuscripts last year, I’ve spent January in the Fallow time. For those of you who are not farmers, when one grows crops it is usually a good idea to leave one of your fields untilled each year so that the ground can recover its nutrients. ThisContinue reading “Fallow Time”

Yesterday I sent one of my new SF stories to a small internet magazine. Within 8 hours it had been rejected with a nice form letter which stated that somewhere there was a stupid magazine that would run my story, but not here, buddy. Reader(s) of this blog know that I am no stranger toContinue reading “Why Do You Write?”

Back in 2007 I worked as the head of the Alternate Conflicts Counsel in Humboldt County. I worked long hours and dealt with all kinds of crazy problems. One day in May I was called in to my supervisor’s office unexpectedly. I thought I was doing a pretty good job as Alt Counsel. Evidently, IContinue reading “Write It Anyway”

When the book is written, before the first revision, comes the most tedious, most irritating, yet in many ways the most important task for the writer: The synopsis. In a synopsis you encapsulate the book into a few short paragraphs. It’s supposed to be a brief telling of the plot so that an agent–and aContinue reading “In Synopsis Hell”

Turns out, it was a good thing I put the new blog website on the Facebook page. My ever curious relative, who does not like to be identified in this blog, went to the website page and found a blank “this ain’t here” message. Fortunately, the message also had a link to the blog, soContinue reading “A Revoltin’ Development”

Like jellyfish, 2020 is galumphing to a close and none too soon for any of us. Some years are sunny and beautiful, like 1967, the year of the Summer of Love. Some years are dark and crazed, like 1968, the year of assassinations and Nixon. Some years are 2020, when no one enjoyed any luck.Continue reading “The Rogue Year”

This is the Dead Week. I don’t mean the Annual Zombie Fest (something I wrote in jest but, turns out, there actually is one in Long Beach every year). This is the week nothing gets done. Nothing. No contracts are signed, no new business gets transacted, no jury trials commence. Nothing. I am a lawyerContinue reading “The Dead Week”

Okay. Christmas. Merry. Jolly. Fa la la la la la la la la la…… It’s Christmas week in San Bernardino, which means that I am in court a lot. For a family law lawyer, Christmas means lots of angst with the clients. That, and an ex-girlfriend who drove to San Diego in a rental car,Continue reading “Dazed and Merry”