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Rick O'Donnell is a freelance writer from Oberlin, Ohio (25 miles northwest of Cleveland). He is co-founder of the Oberlin Writers' Group and a pioneer in applying digital technology to creative writing. His 1983 master's dissertation, Special Watch, was the first thesis ever presented in both traditional paper format and on floppy disk. For the first time, stories and poems incorporated movement, sound, and animation. In the same year, he became the first American to have his short story collection, Rice Wine, published on disk.
Rick is currently rewriting the first draft of his novel, Measure Twice/ Cut Once, a murder mystery set in Cleveland, and he is at work on a collection of horror stories and on a collection of stories for children. He is the author / artist of the MPD University comic strip, and he also created the comic strip, Worms' View, with his sister, artist Gail Darmstadt. His website, Worms' View, is under construction. Rick also enjoys writing macabre humorous film shorts and acting with the Oberlin Film Makers; his film shorts will be available on YouTube in the near future. His bumper stickers, God Created Sex / I Just Perfected It, and Marriage / The Post-Romantic Stress Syndrome, were published by Bad Habits, and his button Throw Parties / Not Bombs is available from Northern Sun catalog.
Rick received two prestigious Ohio Arts Council individual artist grants for fiction and performance arts. His poetry, fiction, and non-fiction have appeared in: North Coast Review, Binaryorganic, Mind Fair, Kaleidoscope, Heartlands, Many Voices, The Gamut, Diskazine, The Alchemist, Telescope , and Intro. Two plays, Mary , and The Last Dragon in the World, have been produced.
A frequent workshop presenter, Rick has led groups titled Jump Start Your Novel, Jump Start Your Family Story, and Journal Keeping. He developed an empowering workshop, Creativity for Recovery, for the Lorain County Rape Crisis Center.
Rick's hobby is researching and collecting family stories for the O'Donnell family tree, especially those of the last one hundred years in Lorain County, Ohio. One story from this collection, Genesis of the Easter Seals Society: The Memorial Day Trolley Car Disaster, is available on-line free of charge at North Coast Review.
Rick earned an associate degree from Lorain County Community College, a BA degree from Oberlin College, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Bowling Green State University. He has served on the writing faculties at Bowling Green University, Cuyahoga Community College West, and Lorain County Community College.
He is proud to be a Vietnam era Veteran, having served in the U.S. Navy on a submarine, a minesweeper, and as senior
corpsman in pediatrics. Rick is the father of five grown children and he has two grandsons.
Rick invites other writers to stop by and share your writing with the Oberlin Writers’ Group. It meets every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Oberlin Public Library, 65 S. Main St., Oberlin, OH 44074. The welcome mat is always out.
Mademoiselle Necker unleashes more than she bargained for when she agrees to conduct a seance for the wealthy, bereaved Mr. Neville.
Time: 31:56 / $1.08 Sample Add to Cart
Q: Hello, Rick, As a fellow Sniplits author, I wonder if you prefer writing short stories to other forms of writing?
RO: No. I am an eclectic writer. I am always working on half-a-dozen projects at the same time. For example, I'm finishing my novel, "Measure Twice, Cut Once", have a play in pre-production, and I have had several poems published with Every Day Poets and elsewhere, along with some short stories and short screenplays. I try to work on my longer projects five days a week (I babysit my 18-month-old grandson the other two), and then use the rest of my writing time to finish a story, poem, or screenplay. If I am under a deadline, I will put the others aside and work on it until it is finished. I also workshop all my pieces with the Oberlin Writers' Group before I send anything out. They keep me honest. Plus, I have two friends whose opinions I cherish. As for which genre I prefer, each offers its own unique challenge and reward. The novel is daunting and time consuming, seven years and counting. Writing the shorter pieces and seeing those published helps to stroke my ego and validate that I am not simply talking to myself. So for me, all the forms are equally important to my writing process.
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