JR Stone's Blog (32)

If you haven't noticed, I have been taking an hiatus from writing.  But, that's not to say that my hiatus will be permanent.  Not by a long shot.  Instead, I have been immersed in reading autobiographies which always whet my appetite to write.



One of the books I had the pleasure of reading was about Frances Farmer.  I had always heard the stories and even saw a clip from the show, "This is Your Life" that featured her very dark life.  She was a hopeful, shining…

As I have been racking my brain for a new novel plot, I recently checked my email and discovered a request from a reporter for the Beaumont Enterprise.



She asked if I would give her an interview regarding my novel, "The Long Road from…

You may have noticed that I haven't posted to this blog in quite awhile.  After promoting "The Long Road from Perdition", I began that journey of "what's next?"  …

Yesterday, I was pleased to see an email from Indigene from Indie Review blog.  I had sent her The Long Road from Perdition several months ago to review and after being slammed with work, she was able to finally offer a critique to my work.…

As I was glancing through some posts on Facebook, I saw an entry with a short video attached by Mary Karr, the famous memoirist/poet from Groves, Texas.  I clicked on the video and watched as she and her sister filmed their journey into Port Arthur, Texas.…

During Nicholas's journey, the reader finds that he is being fostered by Miss Boudreaux.  When I was writing this novel, I sometimes contemplated, "What if The Bum never moved in with Miss Boudreaux?" 



Would Nicholas stay until legal age and take care of his foster brothers and sisters? Or, would he run away regardless and start a new life?  It's hard to say, because if you've read the story, Miss Boudreaux's love interest, aka "The Bum" is the catalyst for…

Alot of people ask me about these two characters in my novel, "The Long Road from Perdition".  Namely, if these two personalities really exist.  I have to say though, that I have known some guys that gave me inspiration for their personalities.  Go to any gay bar and you will likely see waitstaff that could easily be Gitch or Chi-Chi.…

Several days ago, I discovered some pages on Facebook that caught my attention.  One was entitled, "I Grew up in Groves" and the other is "Gulfway Drive".  I quickly scanned the posts from people that used to or still live in the area and memories of my youth started coming back to me.

I still remember…

In my interview with Linda Della Donna, we discussed alot of topics, but due to space and time constraints, she had to pare down my interview somewhat.  She asked me an interesting question that made me have cause to pause as they say.



Who were some of your favorite characters in the book and why?  The first one that came to mind was obviously,…

That has to be the best way to give a book steam once it's released.  A publisher can send a truckload of novels to Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com and give it the best marketing blurb in the world.  But, unless the reader picks up the book and is moved enough to suggest it to a friend or acquaintance, that book will more than likely sit on the proverbial shelf and collect dust.…

I'm not much on interviews but when the lovely Ms. Linda Della Donna asked if she could interview me, I couldn't resist.  She is everything her readers would imagine she is; kind, funny, thoughtful and talented.  And, she lives in my favorite city in the whole world:  New York.  I've been following her writing for awhile now and I never tire of her written word.  Ever.

ep, I agreed to be interviewed by Linda Della Donna, blogger of Book or Bust.  I've long been an admirer of Ms. Della Donna and since she has graciously agreed to interview me and was so kind to offer to do so, I decided to break my own rule and talk at length about the writing of "The Long Road from Perdition".…

There are several topics in my novel, "The Long Road from Perdition" that are considered controversial.  One of those topics is the debate of how old should you be when you have your first sexual experience? Does it matter? And, why is achieving that first experience the proof that a boy has become a man?



In the novel, the main character, Nicholas has a sexual encounter at…

It's no secret that I've written a novel entitled "The Long Road from Perdition".  When I asked writers to read the book and offer some constructive criticism, I was a little taken aback that they thought the book was factual. Some even believed that I was Nicholas and was narrating my life through his character.…

Sometimes when I'm seated at a bar and get an idea for a character, I wonder to myself, "Is this how Ernest Hemingway started in Key West?"  I would then imagine a bunch of six-toed cats running freely throughout a home on the edge of lapping waves where sunrises and sunsets are celebrated daily by the locals.…

It's true, I've been hounding people to post reviews of my new novel onto Amazon.com, Good Reads.com, Facebook,Twitter, anywhere there is a connection between the written word and people. 



So,…

It seems that my email bin is getting thick with questions, so I thought I would answer some of them in this space.



1. Are you really from the Golden Triangle area in S.E. Texas?

Yes.  Born and raised in the Groves area although I have moved around since. 



2. Why are you so secretive about your identity?

I don't think of it as being "secretive," but I am a very private person. …

I used to think that I was the only kid that had been bullied when I was growing up.  As time passes, most "odd ducks" realize that they were not the only ones.

I often wonder what drives someone to become a bully?  Insecurity? False sense of superiority? I…

I hate that question.  I bet if you were to interview as many authors as you could (me included), you would find that one of those authors absolutely HATES interviews.  And, if you haven't figured it out by now, I am that author.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't want to get the word out about my latest…

When I decided to write my novel, there were a few characters that I had in my head that I wanted to bring to life.  One of those characters was a guy named Charley.  Granted, he is a fictional character, but he is based on someone I used to know some years ago. 

The only similarities between the character in my book and the guy I used to know was the number of years that it took to completely harness his hopefulness about life in…