tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29767808973871588542024-03-13T13:18:24.019-07:00Brian Donald WrightFrom the brain of Brian....Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-92090031372116090502021-09-24T14:01:00.003-07:002021-09-24T14:19:00.933-07:00Publishing Part I: That Perfect First SentenceHello everyone! You thought you were rid of me, but I'm back. For the last few years I've leaned on the excuse that platform building took too much time away from actual writing as justification for abandoning my blog, twitter account, Facebook page, etc, etc. Well, after four years of working on it, my WIP manuscript is to the point where I either have to focus on publishing or move on with lifeUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-60843335995985684252020-06-13T23:11:00.001-07:002020-06-13T23:13:17.522-07:00A New Song
Life as an artist, in all guises we artists come, is far from easy. What market exists is often concentrated at the top, into those fortunate enough to have "struck it big." Those lucky, talented few who have captured the imaginations of pop culture fans seem to live a luxurious, jet-set lifestyle while the rest wallow in the mires of obscurity and financial toil. We "starving artists," however,Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-57227215482104502492020-05-08T19:38:00.003-07:002020-05-08T19:51:40.274-07:00An Ode to the Mountain
What is it about a mountain that so thoroughly ensnares the human imagination? Is it the jagged immensity? The superhuman scale? Or is it the allure of secrets hidden in every fold and crevasse? Perhaps it’s simply the exhibition of nature at its grandest scale. The unmitigated authority of such a colossal body and its total freedom to build, act, and even collapse, in whatever way it pleases.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-6917478660572704852019-12-02T06:46:00.000-08:002019-12-02T06:48:30.396-08:00New Music and Photography Pages!!
As mentioned in a previous post, I have been planning to expand my blog/website to include original music and photography as well. This past week I launched pages for both and I am really excited! If you get a chance click over to see these new elements to my website. I am always happy for comments and questions.
Original Music
Music conveys the ineffable: sensation, emotion, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-85111961826673397632019-11-27T14:49:00.000-08:002019-12-01T13:24:26.569-08:00Adventure Series Part 3: Conquering Doubt on Sixmile
Six or seven months ago I remember saying it would take "years to build back up to a Sixmile level." I imagined Alaska's Sixmile Creek to be a whitewater run on the same stature as Colorado's Gore Canyon, an infamous regional testpiece for expert kayakers. I've been out of the whitewater scene for a while and it had been many years since I'd ventured onto such treacherous waters.
In the endUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-21221563664519427722019-11-24T07:54:00.000-08:002019-12-01T13:25:26.389-08:00A New Blog
For those of you who follow me (hi mom!), you all know that my blog efforts stalled out a while ago. It's a lot of work! But I think I've come up with a way to do a little CPR on this dusty blog and come up with an outlet for the creative explosions I've been experiencing lately.
Other than my recent efforts composing my "Adventure Series," I haven't visited you here for awhile, but thatUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-83571048980797930862019-11-20T10:16:00.000-08:002020-06-12T23:14:12.200-07:00Adventure Series Part 2: Discovering Northwestern
Pick your paradise.
The first time your eyes fell on it, your breath choked backwards in your throat. It was one of those places so effortlessly sublime it felt surreal. It seemed proof of the divine. Picture this place.
Now, let me tell you about one of mine.
In a remote corner of the Southern Alaska coast. In a bedrock gash between hacksaw granite ridges iced with decadent Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-60946155947359717952019-11-07T08:16:00.000-08:002019-11-13T13:42:29.962-08:00Adventure Series Part I: The Summer I Became Alaskan (even if only in my own mind)
Packrafting First Canyon on Sixmile Creek
Awhile back, when I was quite a bit more, ahem, active with my blog, I pondered what it meant to be 'Alaskan'. At the time I had lived in this massive and complicated state for seven months. Now, almost two years after penning that post, I sit today in the same place, pondering the same basic question.
"Alaskan," Strictly Speaking
People Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-55715361593759149262019-01-06T10:38:00.003-08:002019-01-06T18:35:15.456-08:002018: A Year in Books
Noon during an Alaska winter. Hard to tell if it's a sunset or sunrise as the former tends to start immediately upon the conclusion of the latter
Ah yes, I'm back. You thought you were rid of me. You forgot you signed up for my mailing list. You scratched your head and wondered "who the hell is Brian Donald Wright" when I popped up in your inbox this morning.
Not so, my friends. I am aliveUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-32014705199565075182018-01-23T13:05:00.000-08:002018-01-24T12:43:53.508-08:00One-year Blogiversary and Thoughts on the Author's Platform
A year has passed since I penned my first blog post. For nearly a decade prior I wrote in blissful solitude, convinced that the strength of my manuscript alone would be enough to propel my work to a sizeable, lucrative audience. It was just over a year ago, however, when I began querying my last novel manuscript, that numerous authoritative sources informed me this was a dream of fools.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-1239367008559698012017-12-29T12:28:00.000-08:002017-12-29T12:28:09.981-08:002017: A Year in Books
Another year peels off the calendar. As I age, every cycle happens faster and faster.
Seward, Alaska, the place that most epitomizes my 2017
We like to imagine New Year's as some sort of definitive delineation, a border wall keeping the years strictly separate. Every New Year's is an opportunity to redefine and re-imagine ourselves. We engage in all sorts of ludicrous, nonsensical traditionsUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-86258995704978104512017-12-18T13:02:00.000-08:002017-12-18T13:02:23.355-08:00In Defense of Epic Fantasy
Heroic. Majestic. Impressively great. So reads one definition of the word “epic.” Simple and concise, these three modifiers together provide a useful frame upon which we can define one of the great traditions of literature: epic fantasy.
Fantasy can be anything you want. Even something illogicallike a gravity-defying castle in the sky
The roots of fantasy stretch as far back as Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-2470344631603823252017-12-10T12:06:00.000-08:002017-12-10T12:06:23.005-08:00Being Alaskan Means...
A bench overlooking Resurrection Bay in my hometown ofSeward, Alaska. Rugged peaks and rugged ocean definelife on the North Gulf Coast of the Last Frontier
Alaska is America's biggest state. Sorry Texas, we gotcha more than doubled. But Alaska is more than sweeping landscapes, fanged grizzlies and icy glaciers.
Alaska is its people.
What makes Alaskans different? Or are they different? Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-35660092063330331522017-12-02T11:49:00.000-08:002017-12-02T17:41:18.959-08:00The Necessity of Critical Feedback
Every writer and every project inevitably finds that cursed plateau. The writer's tunnel-minded approach ceases to enhance the words, the sentences. The story. Hammering through this invisible barrier requires a different perspective.
Critical feedback is a necessary evil in the editing process
What non-writers may not know is that a novel isn't written in one pass, printed, and vaulted Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-18899505623090180732017-11-28T00:37:00.004-08:002017-11-28T00:40:10.505-08:00Work in Progress Live on Wattpad
You can now read a serialized portion of one of my novels-in-progress on Wattpad. Wattpad users can also vote and comment. The more views and votes I receive, the more exposure and the more I'm able to build a reader base.
Synopsis:
1,692 years after "The Great Death" nearly forced humanity into extinction, culture and society has returned to North America. A tenuous union of four Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-6071730729534327042017-11-19T10:32:00.000-08:002017-11-19T11:05:51.834-08:00The 50th Blog Post
Me with two of my favorite things: a book anda latte
Blog. No blog. Almost any how-to for author platform-building touts the necessity of the almighty blog. It's a chance to build an audience and prove to the world your voice is worth hearing. Some agents and publishers won't even consider you without one.
Thus, it was with some reluctance that I toed my way into the blogosphere last Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-21814869567999516702017-11-12T09:31:00.000-08:002017-11-12T09:31:59.907-08:00Tempting Fate in Rocky Mountain National Park
Five-hundred feet up a slick rock face with a storm moving in and I was about to die….
McGregor Mountain looms of the Fall River entranceof Rocky Mountain National Park
At least that’s how it seemed as I clung desperately to the blank slab of granite, legs gyrating in fear, with crackles of thunder drawing closer. I’d forgotten how fast blue skies could turn to slate-gray in Rocky MountainUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-36030852086196453742017-11-05T08:56:00.000-08:002017-11-05T08:56:09.700-08:00Me in Twelve Pictures
Can a series of images provide a working avatar for a human life? Could I distill myself like an herb into some piquant essence?
This might seem a little vain. I don't mean it to be. Rather it is an experiment in photo storytelling. The first iteration of this post included blurbs explaining each photo but I quickly realized that was counter to the premise. Instead I decided to allow Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-61944704941360605392017-10-29T12:31:00.000-07:002017-10-29T12:31:47.239-07:00Seducing Your Readers With a Perfect Page One
The perfect first page. Everything hinges on it.
Agents and publishers, readers and critics will snap-judge your piece, perhaps not even consciously, by those opening words. Call it unfair. Call it superficial. But as writers we work in the attention industry, and now more than ever there are a innumerable suitors for a person's attention. You have one page to convince them that your voice isUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-29201636459452259092017-10-22T09:16:00.000-07:002017-10-22T09:22:22.200-07:00What Scares Me
Every year on October 31st, the world (or those in it that recognize such frivolous holidays) tries to frighten itself. Scary movies, ghost stories, spooky costumes, all part of the elaborate ruse designed to riff on one of the most primitive and powerful sensations in the human emotional lexicon: fear.
In honor of the approaching All Hallow's Eve, it's time to face my fears and blog about Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-87677673063854881702017-10-15T09:55:00.000-07:002017-10-15T12:00:06.460-07:00Five Books that Left Me Feeling Icky
A well-written novel is one that makes you feel something. But what if that something is discomfort? Disgust? Anxiety? Revulsion? Important books never shy away from tackling difficult subjects: repression, gender roles, crime, deceit, violence, tragedy. Occasionally, however, a book submerges me in such torrent of desolation I feel I'm drowning in its turbid waters.
There have been several Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-73247963144175218082017-10-07T12:10:00.000-07:002017-10-07T12:46:27.587-07:00Bookmatcher: A Trial Release
(Skip the explanation and go straight to the submit page. Or the find a book page)
A few months ago I was on the search for a new book. Call me picky but I knew what I wanted: sci-fi or fantasy with engaging characters, stunning prose, thrilling adventure, commercial success, recent publication, and written by someone I'd never before read. I'm an aspiring author of speculative fiction; I Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-66467398081306654272017-09-29T13:28:00.000-07:002017-09-29T18:11:28.809-07:00A Slytherin? Really?
In a blog post a little while back, Twitter friend A.S. Akkalon discussed being sorted into Ravenclaw by the Pottermore website. In a comment, I proclaimed that I was also part of the Ravenclaw club. We congratulated each other's high degree of nerdom and moved on.
Why Ravenclaw you might ask? Well, frankly I'm not quite personable enough to be a Hufflepuff, not nearly brave enough toUnknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-40937313373556816792017-09-22T08:07:00.000-07:002017-09-22T08:07:31.256-07:00Author Spotlight: Abby Goldsmith- City of Slaves
As part of my recent effort to support and bring greater illumination to the rapidly expanding demographic of Indie/small press writers, today's post is the third in a planned series of spotlights on less-publicized authors whose books I've read and enjoyed.
Read a full-length cut of City of Slaves
on Wattpad
In this post the spotlight is on Abby Goldsmith. Her incredible debut novel is&Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2976780897387158854.post-48876322135076190472017-09-20T08:00:00.000-07:002017-09-20T08:00:16.702-07:00The Call of the Sawtooth Mountains
A crisp layer of frost clung to the tent our first morning in Idaho’s Sawtooth Range. It was early September but a cold front had sent the mercury plummeting at our campsite beside Redfish Lake near the town of Stanley, Idaho. Even with an extra blanket and the added warmth provided by Otis, our rescue mutt, my wife, Ella, and I emerged from the tent blowing hot breath into our frozen palms and Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2