The Critics Have Spoken

Back to Basics

This month I begin my eighth book, now that my seventh book is finally completed and published. Book #7 is a novella called Blind Fool Running that I wrote under the pen name Jonco Bugos. As usual, Lulu.com will be publishing this novella. This book is literary fiction but it's still part of my "Science Fiction for Thinkers" collection because of the metaphysical themes involved.

Now, back to the writing desk.

Author's Note: No, "Blind Fool Running" by Jonco Bugos has nothing to do with the Jonco Bugos blog. Jonco Bugos (my alter ego) is the pen name I use for writing literary fiction and for writing the Jonco Bugos blog and the Think-A-Holic Lounge blog.

According to the Crystal Ball

After I complete Blind Fool Running, my first literary novel under the pen name Jonco Bugos, I'll be returning to science fiction under my real name for another novel in the Science Fiction for Thinkers series. And then it will be back to literary fiction as Jonco Bugos again.

Incidentally, Jonco Bugos is the Slovak version of the name of my mother's deceased father, John Bugosh. It's pronounced YONK-oh BOO-gosh. The Slovak language, like the Russian language, has more than one "S" in its alphabet and the "S" on Bugos has an "sh" sound). My mother was pleased that I wanted to use her father's Slovak name for my pen name whenever I write literary fiction. Just to clear the air on this matter. It's also an homage to him and an honor for me to write literary fiction under a pen name that matches his.

I plan to alternate back and forth that way, writing one science fiction novel every two years and one literary novel every two years. My current literary work-in-progress is experimental because I'm writing in the first person, present tense, and that's not an easy thing to do. My literary fiction will also have a slight autobiographical slant as well as a hidden sci-fi theme that will not be clearly evident to readers who don't already know me. And that will be an even harder thing to accomplish.

So, why am I doing it? To test my writing skills, for one thing, and to have a little fun in the process. Also, to accept that particular literary challenge. And to keep boredom at bay and my imagination fresh for both genres.

At least that's the plan for now.

Bricks and Mortar

People have asked me where I get the ideas for my novels and I tell them that my material comes from basically two places. My imagination, for one thing, which is more than just active. It's seemingly boundless, a fictional treasure trove for which I am eternally grateful. The other source is a lot less mysterious and it has a big price tag attached to it. And that would be my own observations of life as I live it.

I've always lived a marginal existence, even when I appeared to be knee-deep in the muck and mire of typical human struggles for the same things everyone else was fighting for. Except that I was always standing outside looking in as I continued to work the inside like everyone else, doing it all but never really fitting in. Watching, making mental notes, dissecting, categorizing all the human and inhuman activity while I participated as best I could at the same time, wearing the performer hat and the audience hat and the critic hat and finding that none of them really fit very well.

Then I picked up the hat of the novelist at age fifty and liked the way it looked and felt. And now, what I have seen and suspected all along, I pass along to my readers.

Tools of The Trade

I still write all my novels on a Canon StarWriter JET 4000 word-processor. A word-processor is something that no one sells today because everyone wants to write on a computer.

I really admire Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. who did all his writing on a typewriter. Hemingway wrote in notebooks with a pencil. But, of course, they had editors and agents.

The picture below shows my writing room, a small upstairs bedroom in Snow Shoe, PA. The room has a nifty dormer with a southern exposure where I, unfortunately, had to put my computer and not the word-processor. I have to write with my nose to the wall and a cup of coffee on my left or I wouldn't get anything done.

I scribble notes throughout the day on pieces of paper and stick them on the wall in front of me with poster putty. When they have been incorporated into a novel they are moved to the wall on my right. Then they are boxed up with the original manuscript and floppy disks when I start the next novel.

When I write I like it quiet but when I do file maintenance I like to listen to NPR and especially to Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion and also to classic jazz music. This photo was taken when I was writing The Dreamer Never Sleeps.

I love to write and I don't mind rewriting but I despise marketing. Selling oneself is making the hardest sales pitch of all.

Author's Note: This photo is a scanned image of a Polaroid snapshot, taken long before I ever had a digital camera. That's why it looks blurry and faded.

The Motivation Behind Writing

My reasons for wanting to write novels are threefold.

To entertain people by making them laugh and getting them to think shares the motivational spotlight with the idea that, I wanted to write books that would make readers want to be better people.

The third reason is that, before I die, I want to make a positive difference in the world.