The Feynman Notebook Method

 “Study hard what interests you the most in the most irreverent and original manner possible.”  - Richard Feynman

I recently read about something called The Feynman Notebook Method, also called the Feynman Technique. It was developed by Richard Feynman as a learning and study technique.

Richard Feynman (1918-1988) was an American theoretical physicist. He worked on the Manhattan Project, won the Nobel Prize in 1965 (along with Julian Schwinger and Shinichiro Tominaga), and helped to discover the cause of the space shuttle Challenger disaster. He was also known as the “Great Explainer” because he could explain complex concepts in simple and understandable ways.

After his second year of graduate school he started using a notebook dedicated to learning a new concept. On the title page he wrote, Notebook of Things I Don’t Know About. He used the notebook to disassemble what he was studying and reorganize his knowledge. He took a difficult concept and wrote notes and diagrams that made it easier for him to understand. As he filled the empty pages of his notebook his knowledge of the topic grew.

I found this interesting as I have been keeping a notebook dedicated to learning about writing for about two years. As I read books and articles on writing I highlight important passages. Once I finish I go back through and write notes and diagrams in my notebook. Going back later and reviewing what I have written has been helpful. 

So far when I’ve done this I’ve just written down things exactly as they were originally written. That has worked for most ideas but not all. I found myself copying down long passages because I didn't want to change what was originally written. That’s been fine for some ideas. I just broke down the long passages into smaller bite size chunks. But it hasn’t been helpful for a lot of other more complicated concepts.

I realize now that I should have been doing what Richard Feynman did. He didn’t just copy down quotes. He would simplify his notes and diagrams in order to be able to teach the concept to others. Then he would review his explanations and look for where he still didn’t understand something or where his explanations weren’t clear. Next he would go back to the source material and add or edit as needed, all the while simplifying as much as possible. I’m definitely going to start doing this with my notebook. 

When I read the article about this study method I thought Richard Feynman was completely new to me. After reading the article I looked up some more information about him. Some of what I read sounded familiar to what I’ve read on a Twitter account from what looks like a professor. The bio doesn’t explain who he is but the feed includes motivational quotes about learning. It turns out I’ve been following the Richard Feynman Twitter account for quite awhile. 

Three Favorite Authors

“People on the outside think there’s something magical about writing, that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story, but it isn’t like that. You sit in back of the typewriter and you work, and that’s all there is to it.” - Harlan Ellison 

I’ve really been into three particular authors recently, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, and Harlan Ellison. I’ve gotten so into them that I’ve created checklists of each author’s work. I’m ticking things off as I add them to my collection and as I read them. I’ve also rearranged my bookshelves and grouped their books close together. Not only have I rearranged my physical bookshelves, I’ve also added author “shelves” for these authors to my Goodreads page. 

Neil Gaiman

I first discovered Neil Gaiman when I was in university. I read his Sandman comic around the time it was originally being published. I liked it but never finished reading it. After Sandman I didn’t read any of his work for quite a long time. I was always aware that he was writing short stories and novels over the years but I never got around to reading any of them. 

I rediscovered Neil Gaiman right after I started this blog. His book Art Matters had just been released and I picked it up. I liked it enough that I sought out more of his advice on writing. I liked what he had to say. I found his advice simple, straightforward, and motivating. It was just the right kind of advice that I needed to hear. Things like the importance of finishing things. That you don’t have to get it right at the beginning. By finishing things you start to learn. You learn more from finishing a failure than by beginning something that is fantastic that is left unfinished. 

He also uses examples from his work when giving advice. This intrigued me enough to seek out his fiction. So I read Coraline. I wasn’t expecting to like a dark fantasy children’s novella as much as I did. It was eerie and suspenseful and the main character was smart, resourceful and brave. Then I read The Graveyard Book. I never thought that a story of a young boy that lives in a graveyard and is raised by ghosts could be as moving as it was. I liked it even more than Coraline. Next was The Ocean at the End of the Lane and Neverwhere. So far The Graveyard Book and Neverwhere are my favorites. Most recently I’ve been reading his short stories and I’ve been enjoying them a lot. M is for Magic is a nice, quick overview of his short story work. I’ve just started the short story collection Smoke and Mirrors. He seems to have a genuine love for storytelling and it really comes through in his work. 

Ray Bradbury

I first read Ray Bradbury in high school. I came across his work in the science fiction short story collections that I read from my high school library. I remember liking them a lot but didn’t read any further. When he passed away in 2012 I picked up a collection of his short stories but I didn’t read it. The years went by.

I also rediscovered Ray Bradbury right before I started this blog. I have mentioned before that  I watched a video of a speech he gave at a writer’s symposium in 2001. In the speech he gives lots of advice for aspiring writers. His speech was one of the things that motivated me to write more and to start a blog. I still didn’t get back into reading his work though. Until a few months ago. I found a beat up copy of Bradbury’s R is for Rocket in a used bookstore recently. I picked it up and read it. Good stuff. I recognized some of the stories. I may have read this collection in high school. Next I read The October Country, a collection of science-fiction and horror stories and The Halloween Tree, a short novel about the origins of Halloween. I loved them both. I also read Zen and the Art of Writing. He mentions some of the advice from the book in his speech.

There’s something lyrical and poetic about his writing. I’ve added a few more Bradbury books to my shelf and I’m looking forward to reading them. 

Harlan Ellison 

I first discovered Harlan Ellison when I was in high school through his interviews, reviews, and essays in Starlog and Future Life magazines. I soon learned that he wrote my favorite Star Trek episode, “City on the Edge of Forever.” What’s on the screen may be different from his original script but his voice is still there. It’s not perfect but it’s a powerful episode. It doesn’t offer up easy answers to the problems the characters face and it doesn't end with the characters laughing and smiling on the bridge.

I can’t remember exactly when I started reading his fiction. I do remember buying his books at one of my favorite book stores in Atlanta, The Science Fiction and Mystery Bookshop. It moved twice but like a lot of bookstores it eventually went out of business. It’s been closed for years but man, I still miss that place. In any case, I bought a number of his books, both fiction and non-fiction. 

I had all my Ellison books packed away and stored at my parents house for the longest time. I dug some of them out a few years ago and started reading his fiction again. I also started filling in the holes in my collection. Within the last year I’ve picked up a hardcover, a trade, and a number of books on Kindle. Just recently I found some more boxes of his books that I forgot that I had. 

It turns out that I have way more Ellison hardcovers and paperbacks that I thought. At present I have nine hardcovers and twelve paperbacks. Some of them are signed. I thought I only had two signed books but it turns out that I have more. I haven’t seen these books in over twenty years. Finding them was like finding a time capsule filled with treasure. 

It’s been driving me crazy that I can’t remember which convention I met Ellison and got my books signed at. I thought it was at a Dragon Con but I can’t find any documentation of him attending prior to 1992, which is when I moved to Japan. It’s also driving me crazy that I don’t have any photographs. I used to always take pictures at the conventions that I attended. 

I just finished reading one of his early collections of short stories, Paingod and Other Delusions,  and I finally read Dangerous Visions, which he edited. Ellison was not without controversy and I don’t like every single thing he has written. But there are so many gems. I still find his writing, especially his fiction to be raw, powerful, and moving. 

In Summary 

While I have some other favorite authors, and I’m always discovering someone else to read, I keep coming back to these three. They have some similarities but they’re not exactly alike. Bradbury and Gaiman seem the most similar, but Ellison is different. He can come across as louder, angrier, and more in your face. That’s just one side to his writing, especially his non-fiction. He can also demonstrate that lyrical, poetic poetic quality I find in Bradbury, and he also comes across as having a genuine love for telling stories that both Bradbury and Gaiman have. 

They reached deep into themselves, put in the time to put words onto paper, and told stories that go beyond what’s just on the written page. 

A Night in the Lonesome October

"Reading is the nourishment that lets you do interesting work." - Jennifer Egan

Around the middle of October I learned about a book called A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny with illustrations by Gahan Wilson. This is the last book that Mr. Zelazny wrote before he passed away in 1995 at the age of 58. I’ve read some of his short stories and I may have read Damnation Alley when I was in high school but I don’t remember for sure. I bought the first five books of the Chronicles of Amber quite a long time ago but still haven't read them. The bookstore where I bought them, like a lot of bookstores, no longer exists. 

After reading The October Country and The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury (both quite excellent) I was interested in reading something else that fit the season. When I discovered this book I figured that I’d give it a try. I’m very glad that I did. 

The story is narrated by Snuff the dog. Snuff is the companion to a knife wielding gentleman named Jack. Together they are players in "The Game." But they aren’t the only ones. There’s also the witch, the mad monk, the druid, the vicar, a couple of hermetic occultists, the doctor and his experiment man, the Count who sleeps by day, and a mysterious stranger named Larry Talbot. Most of these characters have animal companions as well. There’s also the Great Detective, observing and investigating. 

Roger Zelazny dedicates this book to Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Albert Payson Terhune (author and dog breeder), and the makers of a lot of old movies. This gives you an idea of what kind of story you’re in for. 

There is one chapter where I thought the description suddenly got a little too wordy. Snuff and Graymalk the cat find themselves on a  journey through a dreamlike world with a majestic city. As I was reading I thought about H. P. Lovecraft and realized what the author was doing. It worked. 

At the start of the book Snuff introduces himself and gives the reader some background information. After that the chapters are titled by date, beginning with October 1st and ending with October 31st. As the story progresses the reader discovers more about "The Game" leading up to the final confrontation on October 31st. 

There's mystery, adventure, horror, and humor. I loved the characters, the storytelling, and the illustrations. One of my favorite books of the year. I learned that it’s become tradition to read this book every October, one chapter a day. I plan on reading it again next year. 

Bird by Bird

“Writing a first draft is very much like watching a Polaroid develop. You can’t - and, in fact you’re not supposed to - know exactly what the picture is going to look like until it has finished developing.” - Anne Lamott

I haven't been doing much writing lately. The challenge of sitting down to write is not new to me but it’s been more challenging than usual. There is so much going on these days. In the world. In America. In my family. Not only has it been hard to find the time to write, it’s been hard to find the motivation. Eventually I managed to find the time and motivation to do some reading. I just finished another book on writing, Bird by Bird by author Anne Lamott.

I discovered this book awhile ago while browsing in a bookstore. The back cover has a quotation from the book which explains where she got the title from. She tells a childhood story about her brother and father. Her brother was in a panic as he had waited until the last minute to begin a book report on birds. I can relate. Immobilized and almost in tears because of the task at hand, her father offered the following advice to her brother, “Bird by bird buddy. Just take it bird by bird.” That grabbed my interest so I picked it up. Until now it's been sitting on my shelf with a number of other unread books.

The book is divided into four parts, Writing, The Writing Frame of Mind, Help Along the Way, and Publication - And Other Reasons to Write. The first two parts take up the majority of the book.

I found the section on writing to be the most interesting and the most helpful. In it she stresses the importance of giving yourself short assignments and writing first drafts. She explains that most first drafts are pretty bad but that’s okay. A first draft gives you a starting point, something to work with. She also talks about how sometimes you won’t get to the good stuff until you’re three or four pages in. Throughout the rest of the section she also gives advice on character, plot, dialogue, as well as other things of concern to anyone who wants to write.

A lot of the advice is similar to advice I’ve read in other books on writing. But it’s presented in different ways from other authors. She shares both her writing experiences and her experiences teaching writing. Her stories help to illustrate her advice. As for some of the advice not being new to me, it didn’t bother me. I found that it was a helpful review. Overall I found the book to be helpful and motivating.


Since finishing the book I’ve been doing some writing. I’ve written some book reviews for Goodreads, added some words to one of my stories in progress, and written this blog. Notes got turned into drafts, drafts got turned into finished things. It was a good reminder that you can’t wait to be motivated. One of the things I love about writing is discovering new things as I write. But that doesn’t happen unless I focus and write. Even if it’s not as much as I’d like I realize that I have to make the time. Even in the most challenging of times.

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

“I always start out with an idea, even a boring idea, that becomes a question I don’t have answers to.” - Toni Morrison 

Where do you get your ideas? I’ve been told that authors don’t like to be asked that question. I’ve heard various reasons, such as it’s difficult to answer or that the answer is so very obvious.

I’ve never really had a problem with coming up with story ideas in general. I always have lots of ideas running around in my head. I think about them a lot. I hardly ever finish anything though. There are various reasons for this. Finding the time to write regularly is a big one. But the main reason is I’m not sure where to go with the idea, where to take the story, or how to end the story. So I’m always interested in hearing what authors have to say about the writing process.

Harlan Ellison said that he got his ideas from Poughkeepsie. He also said Schenectady. Cities in New York. He would then add that there was an idea service there that would send him ideas every week for a fee. I laughed along with everyone else when I first read this in my younger days.  Now that I'm trying to write regularly I think the answer isn’t helpful. Oh, it’s still funny, it’s just not very helpful. 

Recently I came across Neil Gaiman’s answer to this question. First he said that if you ask an author where they get their ideas he’ll probably mock you. I laughed at this because I immediately thought of Harlan Ellison. Neil Gaiman says that he used to give the mocking answers until he was talking to a group of seven and eight year olds. After one kid asked him where he got his ideas from, he thought he’d better give a straight answer. His answer was that ideas come from two things coming together. Confluence. Things that you’ve seen a thousand times but you look at them in a slightly different way. I found his answer helpful. 

Patricia Highsmith, in her book Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction, has a chapter on ideas. She first talks about the germ of an idea. This can come from observation or just a “brief sequence of action that pops into the head out of nowhere, from nothing seen or heard.” That second explanation describes my experience with ideas really well. I’ve lost count how many times ideas have popped into my head as I walked home from my train station to my apartment in the evenings. Something about after working my day job puts me into a place where my mind can wander, can explore, and see connections that I could not see during the day. It never happens in the morning as I walk to the train station. I am not a morning person. 

When I try too hard to think of an idea, nothing happens. On the other hand, when I’m not consciously thinking, “I need to think of an idea!”, an idea will suddenly pop into my head. Then I’ll start wondering about  what would happen next. It just happens. Sometimes the idea gets fleshed out a little further right away, but usually I’ll have to revisit the idea a few times. I’ll keep wondering about what would happen next. It’s like a game. It’s fun. But it doesn’t usually lead to a finished story. 

Patricia Highsmith adds that stories don’t always develop this way. They sometimes need a “second idea to get them going.” When I read this I immediately thought of Neil Gaiman’s advice about confluence. Two things coming together. Like Neil Gaiman’s advice, I found her advice quite helpful.

I’ve learned that thinking about a story isn’t enough. I need to sit down and write. It leads to more ideas. The act of getting the words down leads me into new directions. Ideas I would not have thought of by just thinking about them. New dialogue, new scenes, new directions, new background on characters, and even new characters. I am so fascinated by this process. I absolutely love it. 

In the end it’s different for every writer. Speaking for myself I’m enjoying this journey I’m on. As challenging as it is, I now know that I need to sit down and write more. I need to work harder to find the time to write. Thinking and imagining is the easy part. I’ve done it most of my life.

Less daydreaming, more work.  Wish me luck.

A Letter to Lawrence Block

“You can always fix bad pages. You can’t fix no pages. So write. Just write. Try to turn off that voice of doom that paralyzes you.“ - Harlan Coben

I recently participated in a virtual writing workshop conducted by one of my favorite authors, Lawrence Block. At the end of the workshop he asked for feedback. Here’s what I sent him.

Dear Mr. Block,

Thank you for conducting the Virtual Writing Workshop. It was an enjoyable experience. 

I’ve been interested in writing for years. I never do enough of it. Your workshop got me writing for two hours twice a week. It felt good. 

I am currently living and working in Japan. Since I’m in a different time zone I wasn’t writing at the same time as everyone else. I did the Tuesday assignments later in the week and I did the Thursday assignments on weekends. I felt very motivated after completing each assignment and always looked forward to the next assignment. I got behind at one point, but it wasn’t too difficult to catch up. I was able to keep to my schedule for the last few exercises. 

The assignments were clear. I was able to jump right in. I liked the flow of each assignment and I liked that there was flexibility. The fifteen minute exercises were nice warm-ups. I found the breaks between sessions helpful.

At first I was doubtful that I would be able to write for an entire hour. One thing I have struggled with is my tendency to overthink things. I often second guess myself as I write. I’ve improved after reading a few books on writing but it’s still an issue. 

I gave it a try though. It kept me going knowing that as long as the pen was moving I was doing it right. Once I started I was able to go for the full hour with no negative thoughts getting in my way. That was motivating. I discovered that writing for an hour was not as intimidating as I first thought. The combination of setting a timer and not stopping was simple but effective. 

I also liked the tone of the emails. Laid back but with clear directions and clear possible outcomes. It also felt like we were in the same room and that you were speaking to me directly. 

I learned some things about writing, I learned some things about myself, and wrote a lot. I’m definitely interested in joining a similar workshop in the future. That is if I’m not too busy writing. 

Thank you so much. 

Sincerely,

Jim Reddy

Next: Ideas and where they come from.

What I Get Out of Writing and What I Hope to Get

“Very few writers know what they are doing until they’ve done it.” - Anne Lamott

What do I get out of writing?

When I’m writing the rest of the world drops away. For a time everything else is forgotten. I’m focused on getting the words down. When I’m working on a blog post I’m either learning new things about myself or I’m relearning old lessons forgotten. When I’m writing fiction I’m exploring a world and characters through the sentences and dialog that I get down on the page. It’s really, really fun.

When I’m writing, fear and self doubt drop away. I just go. I put the words down. Sometimes I’ll write the same sentence three or four times, each a different way. I know I’ll go back and pick the right one later. Thank you Ray Bradbury. Other times I’ll draw a line through the last sentence or two and go a different route. That’s confidence I didn’t have until I started writing regularly. You know, I didn’t even realize I had this confidence until I wrote that last line.

Now and then I get around to finishing something. Mostly blog posts. It’s a good feeling to finish something. 

What do I hope to get?

First, I want to finish things. I went from loving reading as a child to gaining an interest in writing as I got older. Over the years I’ve read a lot. The writing part has been shall we say, lacking. I have taken some steps. Starting this blog and finishing blog posts. Baby steps. The next step is finishing stories. I have plenty of ideas. Some are more fleshed out than others. I know which ones I should be concentrating on. I need to put in the time. 

Second, I want to get better. Over the years I’ve spent too much time thinking about writing and not enough time, you know, writing. I’ve known for a long time that you don’t get better without practice.  I’ve heard that particular advice from so many creators over the years. I’ve always nodded along in agreement with a serious look on my face.

But I didn’t write. There was always something else to distract me. Life of course. Sometimes something creative, like drawing, which I love and also don’t do enough of. More often it was my love of consuming fiction. Reading comics, reading books, watching TV shows and movies. I’m much better at limiting that now. Still, I don’t feel like it’s enough. But I have to say where I am now is an improvement. I have moved forward. 

So. Let’s review.

What do I get out of writing?  Pleasure. The discovery of new things. Confidence. The  sense of satisfaction when finishing something. 

What do I hope to get? I hope to become more focused. I hope to become more disciplined. I hope to become a better writer. 

Why write about this now? This post came about because of a writing workshop I’m currently taking. Author Lawrence Block was planning on holding a month long, twice a week writing workshop in Brooklyn, New York. He canceled it because of the current health crisis. On Twitter he asked if anyone would like to take it home. For free. I jumped at the chance and sent an email expressing my interest. So twice a week I get an assignment by email and I write.

“You must write. It’s not enough to start by thinking. You become a writer by writing.” - R. K. Narayan 

Richard the Writer

"Write what should not be forgotten." - Isabel Allende When I was in high school I carried around a three-ring notebook binder filled with lined notebook paper. It was standard procedure for most students. We took notes on the notebook paper in class and then inserted the pages into the notebook to review later.

Like most kids I carried my notebook binder and textbooks from class to class. Unlike most kids I had an extra book on top of the stack. Usually a science fiction or fantasy paperback. Sometimes a hardcover from the mail order Science Fiction Book Club. I was such a nerd. Still am.

One day I became friends with a guy named Richard. The exact reasons are lost to the fog of time, but probably because of my science fiction book carrying. He carried around a three-ringed notebook binder like all the other kids. I remember it being one of the denim blue ones, which was pretty common at the time. I think I had the same one.

When Richard and I first met he told me he was a writer. I thought that this was an unusual thing for a high school student to say. Then he opened his notebook. The first page was completely filled with his tiny handwriting in blue ink. Then he turned the page. The next two pages were also covered with lines of his handwriting. Then he flipped through more and more pages. They were all filled with his handwriting. I couldn’t disagree with him. He was a writer.

We talked about books and TV shows.  He told me about his stories. I don’t remember much of it. What I do remember is that he suggested we write. He had some cool ideas. 

We were both fans of lots of science fiction TV shows, including Space: 1999. He had an idea for a series based on one of the first season episodes, Another Time, Another Place. In this episode the characters enter a parallel universe in which some of the main characters have died and the rest  have settled on a new world. Richard even came up with Another Time, Another Place logo done in the style of the Space: 1999 logo. He suggested that we write episodes set in the parallel universe. I agreed but never did write anything. I just couldn’t think of any stories. The universe was nowhere near as interesting as Star Trek’s mirror universe. Another idea he had was for an original series about a psychic private eye. He came up with a story bible and said let’s write some stories. This time I actually wrote. I started a story but I didn’t get very far and never finished it. 

We never worked together on anything after that. Time moved on. He graduated the year before me and we lost touch. I’ve thought about him once in a while as the years have passed.

A  few years ago I found a website that listed all the students from my high school. Students are listed by graduation class. It was nostalgic seeing familiar names and pictures. It brought back a lot of memories. It also made me feel quite sad. In a section labeled “In Memory,” I discovered that Richard had passed away. The year that he passed away is listed as unknown. I tried looking him up online but haven’t been able to find any information. 

I have a couple of notebooks that I use as writing journals. One is a daily journal and the others are writing study journals. I usually use a blue pen. I’ve filled up quite a few pages. Sometimes when I look at my pages I think of Richard. 

Next: What I Get Out of Writing and What I Hope to Get

My Struggles With Creating: The High School Years

"If today was not a productive day don't beat yourself to death over it. Wake up tomorrow and start from there. Try it. It works. We can't go back. We can only go forward. Let's go!" - Terry McMillan I wrote my first real short story in high school. Before that I had written some stories in grade school but they were no more than one page. This story was longer. It was for an assignment in an English class. I only remember the basics of the story. A warrior in an icy landscape enters a cave, descends into an underground complex, fights yeti like creatures, and retrieves an ancient sword. I had seen The Time Machine (1960) a few years before on TV and I had recently read the first Conan the Barbarian paperback.  

The story was written in pen on ruled notebook paper. As I wrote I made some edits by crossing out certain lines and adding in my revisions. We got our stories back with notes from the teacher in red ink. Next to one of my edits she had written something like “well done.” To this day I can still remember seeing the teacher’s note and how positive it made me feel.

You would think that would have motivated me to keep writing. Instead I wrote on and off for the rest of high school. A little of this, a little of that. Nothing consistent.The writing I did do was mostly influenced by television and movies. 

I wrote a movie review for an English class newspaper. Everyone was assigned a different task. Some students wrote articles, some students edited. I wrote a review for one of the Star Trek movies. The original series is a big childhood favorite of mine. As a huge fan I got a little carried away with my glowing praise. My student editor’s feedback was to tone it down. I saw her point and re-wrote it. I think the second version was much better. I rewatched the movie soon after. The second viewing really hit it home that I had overdone it in my first draft. It was a learning experience.

Another one of my favorite childhood television shows is Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. One of the local stations started showing it in the afternoon after school. I was also reading Starlog magazine religiously at the time. I devoured the TV show episode guides they often included. I got it into my head to plan a Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea reboot. I wrote a short series bible and came up fifteen to twenty episode ideas. I wrote a brief summary and a title for each episode. I never did write any of the episodes though. 

One time I got serious. Briefly. I joined an English club that published a school literary magazine. I went to a few meetings but never wrote anything. 

During my senior year I took a typing class. One day instead of typing out our assignment, I started a short story. I wrote about a page before I stopped and worked on the assignment. I finished it and turned it in. Soon after the teacher walked back to my desk, held out my assignment, and with a puzzled look asked, “What is this?” I had turned in my story page instead of the assignment. I grabbed the page, mumbled an apology, and handed her the actual assignment. I didn't finish the story. 

I eventually did finish another story. Some fan fiction. A Doctor Who short story. I may have been in university at this point. My memory is hazy here. 

I’ve often thought about that first short story of mine. I wish I still had it. I’d like to read it and see what I was trying to do. Well, it’s gone now. I’ll never be able to read that particular story again. But I can write a new one. So that’s what I’m going to do. 

Next: Richard the Writer