J.A. Pitts

Web Site Goes Live

New Beginnings

Being a writer is a funny thing. We obsess over the silliest nuances of commentary and struggle along in a vacuum of rejection and ambiguity. That’s how it feels a lot of days. But there are moments, when you are putting words down, that everything fades into the ether and the story grabs you by the throat and drags you along, fingers flying across the keyboard, until you have purged the most recent fit of creativity. I love those moments — looking around, wondering what day it is, where you are, if you are still wearing pants.

Not all days are like that, but there are enough of them to convince me to keep me coming back. Now that I’ve been doing this a while, I find it’s in my blood. If I’m not writing, I’m grumpy and prone to anti-social behavior. Those who know me best can point out those moments and ask pointedly, “why don’t you go write something?” So I crawl to my keyboard — and it’s always the keyboard for me — and I commit words.

I once thought writing long-hand would be romantic, but I can barely read my handwriting on a good day. Long hours of feverish creativity does horrid things to my penmanship. I can’t write fast enough for my brain, so it’s the keyboard that’s best capable of capturing the speed of my thoughts, but just slow enough for me to organize the words in a coherent fashion.

If you’ve not read ZEN AND THE ART OF WRITING, by Ray Bradbury you should. The opening introduction is the most salient description of how writing keeps me sane as I’ve ever read.  Writing keeps the world balanced for me.  Check out what Mr. Bradbury has to say.

Writing short has always been a challenge for me, but it’s a labor of love, with a constant struggle for brevity.  I write long.  Always have.  But the short story has so much to offer by way of honing your craft, that I have learned the form and continue to practice it with wide-eyed awe. 

The long form, the novel — that’s my comfort zone.  Having the wide-open canvas to explore ideas, get to know characters, discover new places… that’s where the juice lies for me.  Now that I’ve signed a three-book deal with Tor Books, things are starting to change.

I’m finding more comfort, more grace in the overall process.  I don’t feel as frenetic as I do when I’m writing shorts.  With the novel, I know I’m in for a long stroll in the garden of my imagination and it’s just fine with me.

This site is the launch of something big for me.  I hope you want to come here and share the worlds I build.  I see this as a forum for conversation and the sharing of ideas.

Give me your opinion.  Let me know what you think.

Afterall, we grow by sharing experiences.  Welcome!

« Green (Lantern!) | Wrapped Black Blade Blues edits »