For many years I wrote about fiction, story, belief, ordinary life, and the questions that shaped my work. More than two thousand essays remain here—not because every one represents my current thinking, but because together they tell the story of a writer learning over time.
Search for a subject, browse by month and year, or begin with the most recent writing below.
Search the Library
Browse by Month
Archives
Select Month July 2026
June 2026
May 2026
April 2026
January 2026
December 2025
October 2025
August 2025
July 2025
June 2025
May 2025
April 2025
March 2025
February 2025
January 2025
December 2024
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
September 2020
August 2019
May 2019
February 2019
September 2018
June 2018
April 2018
March 2018
October 2017
May 2016
Browse by Topic
Categories
Select Category
Beemgee
Beginning questions
Biking
Character development
Climax
Cognitive Clarity
Comedy
Constitution
Constitutional law
Cooking with fire
Craft Edge
Creation Edge
Culture
Daily Deep Dive
Defend Democracy
Edge Coach
Edge of Reality
Education
Enlightenment
Family History
Fictionary
First Edge
First pinch point
First Plot Point
Flash Fiction
Frozen Frames
Gardening
God and Girl
Hook
Human condition
Hypocrisy
Inciting incident
Inspirational
Journaling
Key event
Kindle Vella
Learning the craft
Lessons
Library
Listening
Meditation
Mental Meanderings
Midpoint
Millie’s Story
Morning Mental Meanderings
Novels
Pencil Driven Life
Personal stories
Photographing
Politics
Progressive
Projects
Random reading
Reading
Reality
Reality/the natural world
Reason/Reasonable
Regressive
Religion
Resolution
Rule of Law
Sanity Snippet
Science
Scrivener
Second pinch point
Sharpening the Edge
Short stories
Snowflake Novel-Writing Method
Snowflake summaries
Story Desk
Story development
Story Insights
Story stakes
Story structure
Tech Tools
The Boaz Schoolteacher
The Boaz Scorekeeper
The Boaz Secrets
The Boaz Stenographer
The Boaz Stranger
The Boaz Student
The Case of the Perfectionist Professor
The God Illusion
The Pencil Pit
The Pencil’s Philosophy
The Pencil-Driven Life
Third Plot Point
Three act structure
Transformed by the arts
Uncategorized
Write to Life
Writer’s Edge
Writing Journal
Written Wisdom
Browse the Shelves
The archive begins with the most recent writing. Use the numbered pages below to move backward through time.
Penciling from pain to purpose
January 8, 2022
Penciling from pain to purpose
January 7, 2022
Penciling from pain to purpose
January 6, 2022
Penciling from pain to purpose
January 5, 2022
Today’s biking: sunny & 48 degrees
January 4, 2022
Today’s ride in 48 degree sunny weather.
Read Essay
Penciling from pain to purpose
January 4, 2022
With pencil, you can always erase. Sue Monk Kidd
Read Essay
Penciling from pain to purpose
January 3, 2022
The worst thing you can do is censor yourself as the pencil hits the paper. You must not edit until you get it all on paper. If you…
Read Essay
Penciling from pain to purpose
January 2, 2022
Map out your future – but do it in pencil. The road ahead is as long as you make it. Make it worth the trip. Jon Bon Jovi
Read Essay
Penciling from pain to purpose
January 1, 2022
Do you have hands? Excellent. That’s a good start. Can you hold a pencil? Great. If you have a sketchbook, open it and start by making a line,…
Read Essay
Penciling from pain to purpose
December 31, 2021
It is the very mutability of the pencil mark that enables one to keep thinking in process. Peter Saville
Read Essay
Richard L. Fricks 