R. Michael Phillips's Page

I'm an artist by trade and the urge to write came quite by surprise. I've dabbled in it a bit before but nothing as monumental as writing a mystery novel. Writing, I found, and very much to my surprise, was just painting with words. Your brush would gently stroke indigo blue or vermilion onto a canvas to shadow a face in remorse. The same can be said of the words you brush across a page to project that same face, slowly drawn down into the collar of a borrowed, wool coat that was shiny from wear… Continue

I was participating in a conversation recently about motivating young adults to write. Someone mentioned when they address young writers on this subject they suggest they only take on subjects they know, and not venture into unfamiliar waters; siting the fear of discouragement as the reason. I was quite surprised at this, especially coming from an author. My argument was that a young writer should never limit themselves to only what they know. The whole idea seemed preposterous to me. How… Continue