March 2012
2 posts
9 Thumbs podcast
“It’s not what you’re like, it’s what you like.”
This is a quote from John Cusack’s character (also named Rob) in High Fidelity. He owns a music store and spends his days arguing the greatest bands, music and songs of all time with Jack Black. Rob’s idea is that in a world of pop culture you can tell more about a person from their interests than from...
An Update On My Writings
What are you working on right now?
This is a question I get asked all the time online, in life, at parties, and at the gas station pump. We live in a world of what have you written for me lately.
I don’t know how much anyone actually cares—I mean really how much do I actually expect anyone to care? Gas prices are soaring, it’s a pivotal election year, and we’re only months away from the...
February 2012
1 post
If I Handed Out The Oscars
I have something to confess. I like awards shows. I like seeing who won and who didn’t. I like arguing what movies were over and underrated. I like watching the host rise to the occasion or watching the co-host’s careers crumbling in front a nationally televised audience.
I don’t like arguing about who is best and worst dressed. But my wife does. Which means she watches the Oscars with me. And...
June 2011
1 post
You Are What You Tweet
Something has been bothering me for a long time. Lots of people I know, judge lots of other people they know, based on what they tweet. It just comes up in conversation. Things like, “He tweets about sports too much.” Or, “Her tweets or totally condescending. Who does she think she is?”
But is it really fair? Can you we really judge the state of another person’s soul based on 140 characters? The...
May 2011
2 posts
4 Reasons We Love The End Of The World
About every 10 years it’s time to predict the end of world. This has happened several times in my thirty something year life span, but my two favorite instances were the Y2K bug and the bestselling 88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Be In 1988.
I loved the Y2K bug because we all knew the moment it was going to happen. Midnight on January 1st, 2000. How epic is that? The months before Y2K I tried...
Q & A
The following is an excerpt from a Q & A I did with an editor at Z after writing Homemade Haunting. Here are some of the common questions I get about the novel:
Z: So no one in your family is demon possessed?
ROB: I thought my sister might have been when I was a teenager, but I later learned that a lot of teenage girls act demon possessed.
Z: Okay, well if this idea didn’t come from...
April 2011
1 post
Top 5 Scary Stories
As a Christian it’s in my DNA to feel guilty for writing liking horror stories. But I like them anyway. The good ones at least. The bad ones are gratuitous with violence and cheap scares just like bad actions movies have gratuitous gunfights and bad romantic comedies have gratuitous cutesy dialogue in cafes.
However, frightening stories written thoughtfully can shed a light on what happens when we...
March 2011
3 posts
The Best Thing You've Never Done
My third novel is about to release. The question that I get asked all of the time goes something like this: Is this your best novel? Is this the best thing you’ve ever done or did you peak a couple of books back?
This is such a very difficult question to answer. Usually, the newest novel is the closest to me. I’ve just written it and the thoughts and the feelings in it are fresh....
Ryan Fisher The Movie
We all know the adage “the book was better than the movie”. If you’ve ever read a novel and then seen the movie you’ve probably said the same thing yourself.
I think there’s a couple of reasons we say this:
Reason #1 Narcissism: In reading a book we play a large role. In our mind’s eye we cast the characters and we paint the settings, so it only makes sense we’d like our version...
February 2011
2 posts
Homemade Haunting: The Story Behind The Story (pt...
Writing comes from experience. Stories come from a writer’s good times (marriage, proposals, newborn babies, winning a new car on The Price Is Right…) and especially from the bad times (breakups, funerals, being taxed on the car you won at The Price Is Right).
The problem is as we grow up our lives get stable. We have kids and mortgages and PTA meetings. This is not exactly the material that...
November 2010
1 post
HOMEMADE HAUNTING: The Story Behind The Story (pt...
Way back in the spring of 2008 as I was finishing the first draft of The End Is Now, I had an idea for a book. This was when David Sheff’s Beautiful Boy was on the counter of nearly every Starbucks in America. This was also back when Starbucks sold books. There is no time for selling books at Starbucks anymore because baristas now must dedicate every ounce of their up-selling efforts on pimping...
October 2010
3 posts
Citizen Kane part II
Some critics are comparing The Social Network to all time films like Citizen Kane and The Godfather.
I say that’s complete poppycock.
The Social Network has much more in common with Godfather II.
Now usually when we (critics, fan, media) throw these heavyweight titles around we mean we’re witnessing an all time film, one that will be studied and argued by film students for decades to come. But...
“Being a writer is like having homework every night for the rest of your life.”
– Lawrence Kasdan
September 2010
2 posts
I write "fiction" novels
Sometimes when I’m in a conversation with someone I don’t know all that well the fact that I write novels comes up.
Am I the one who brings this up?
Probably.
But in my defense when you’re in a conversation with a new person you want to bring up an interesting fact. It’s like those “get to know you games” you have to play in Freshman orientation or at team...