Resonance breathing is a powerful technique for mindfulness and internal martial art practice. For sitting meditation, you can use an inexpensive pulse-oximeter to achieve resonance.

I say that any writer who claims they started with a theme in mind is lying. Theme is much harder to develop than you might think. And when you see it in your work it is a revelation.

I had many seeds to my daydreams. Stephen R. Donaldson was one who fed my imagination with his anti-hero Thomas Covenant. Like Covenant, I did not belong to the small puritanical community where I lived. When I didn’t—or couldn’t—participate in the activities the community considered important, they called me a faggot, threatened, and beat me. I had a refrain that saved me; Be true.