Thomas Sullivan: SEGAMI RORRIM

If something has to be kept secret, it must be true.  Secrets are self-proving.  Lies are loud and wear red hats, e.g. Santa Claus.  Okay, I’m being a tad glib here.  I do not mean that only secrets are true or that all red hats – i.e. loud proclamations — are lies (your red hat [...]

Thomas Sullivan: ANGELS IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR

There have been moments — bound in some way to a place or a period of time — that have taken my compassion to another level and made me a more complete writer. Such a time and place was a bitterly cold Christmas when I was living in an old men’s hotel filled with human [...]

Thomas Sullivan: HIGH WIRE WALKING ACROSS THE GRAND CANYON, IMAGINARY SHOELACES & AN ANNOUNCEMENT

Happy to be able to offer a job – well, half a job – to any readers who are receptive to same.  Here ‘tis.  Q&A.  You write the questions, I write the answers.  Pay is just the same for both of us.  Srsly.  I am amazed at your feedback, touched by your sharing, daunted by [...]

Thomas Sullivan: FATE, DESTINY, SERENDIPITY, KARMA, KISMET AND STAR-CROSSED IRONIES & COINCIDENCES

As one control freak to another…  Uh-oh, way to go, Sully.  You’ve alienated your entire readership already.  But the essential thing about being human – about being anything with a pulse and choices – is trying to control one’s living conditions to make them beneficial to one’s self, isn’t it?  AKA survival.  Like I was [...]

Thomas Sullivan: SEX & ROMANCE, BORING BINGES, and WHY MOSQUITOES SHOULDN’T HAVE GUN PERMITS

The Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition hisself – Torquemada – has nothin’ on you guys!  What a bonanza of questions and comments came in from around the globe last month in response to the Q. & A. format.  Probing, intelligent, deep and even beastly stuff – and damn near Truth or Dare.  You’re having [...]

Thomas Sullivan: PANNING GOLD, FREEDOM, & THE GREAT SHOPPING CART FIASCO

Help…I have locked myself in the bathroom with a loaded pistol and I don’t know how much time I have left before I pull the trigger.  I know this is where I have to be now.  It’s a desperate move, but I am desperate.  I saw the mosquito fly in here, and if I don’t [...]

Thomas Sullivan: FINDING WOR(L)DS

Hey, you want to bug out with me?  You know, ditch this horrible, awful agony of trying to create characters, plots and settings?  I’ll tell you a secret.  When your imagination goes stale, you don’t have to put it to bed until it recovers.  In fact, that may be the worst – and certainly the [...]

Thomas Sullivan: LION LUNGS, DEMENTIA DOG & THE KILLER GARAGE DOOR

Maybe I’ll write humor today, you decide.

It is 4:41 AM and your sawdust-for-brains next door neighbor has just “unleashed” Lion Lungs – the hyper barking pooch – for his pre-dawn serenade.  Your spouse slumbers next to you, and if you move to the computer downstairs, there is a good chance you’ll wake the baby.  Better [...]

Thomas Sullivan: LION LUNGS, DEMENTIA DOG & THE KILLER GARAGE DOOR

Maybe I’ll write humor today, you decide.

It is 4:41 AM and your sawdust-for-brains next door neighbor has just “unleashed” Lion Lungs – the hyper barking pooch – for his pre-dawn serenade.  Your spouse slumbers next to you, and if you move to the computer downstairs, there is a good chance you’ll wake the baby.  Better [...]

Thomas Sullivan: STUDYING CORPSES TO LEARN CHARACTERIZATION vs. UNPLANNED LESSONS IN REANIMATION

You don’t have to read too many of my columns to know that I am an advocate of first-hand inspiration as opposed to letting one’s imagination do all the work.  No matter how good you are, standing pat on your knowledge and memory as you create whole worlds is a sure way to cheat your [...]