During my long term of unemployment, I put lots time into analyzing the music of Conan the Barbarian (1982)–among other fine film scores–and developing a lyrical description of it. Years back, I never could write good descriptions of places, people, or emotions. After college and grad school, I was used to describing ideas. Describing music helped me learn lyricism. That’s a major milestone in the education of a writer.

Please consider my new essay on Basil Poleoduris’ score to Conan.