“Give your audience what they want, but not in the way they expect it.” –Robert McKee, Story One of the most memorable stories I have read was a book called Cryptonomicon, written by Neal Stephenson. But it was almost a book I didn’t finish. The book is about 800 pages long, like most of his … More Giving Your Readers What You Owe Them
Hey gang: I’m finishing chapter 15 of The Key of Solomon today. Here’s another sneak peek at this sequel to Salome’s Charger: Do-do-do-do-do-do-doo. The music blasted from the Porsche Boxster as they headed north up I-35 in the late afternoon. It was accompanied by an occasional laugh by Connie, or a guffaw by Ezra. “You … More Sneak Peek 3: The Key of Solomon
What is the life of a writer like? First, the bad. You spend lots of lots of time alone. That’s absolutely necessary. You need time alone to write, and when you’re not writing you are reading. When you are not reading, you should be thinking, contemplating, observing. That’s hard for me, a naturally gregarious person. … More A Writer’s Life
Do you know what “awe” is? I mean, well beyond a dictionary definition of the word. Have you ever been awed? I have had times in my life when awe has overcome me, and they are moments I will always remember. Such as walking into St. Stephan’s Cathedral in Vienna with the pipe organ playing, … More Are You Awesome?
I just crossed a milestone, of sorts, this morning. I posted my ten thousandth Tweet on Twitter. This isn’t a blog to congratulate myself. Instead, it’s a moment to take stock of what all that means. Statistically, I joined Twitter in November 2008. Since that time I have attracted 26,300 followers and added 111 photos … More Ten Thousand Tweets
To Fall Among Vultures (Union Earth Privateers Book 2) by Scott Warren. Parvus Press. 232 pages. First, the good news. This promises to be an exciting new series, and I really like the premise. Earth finally develops the technology to travel into the stars, only to find they are already occupied and we are horribly … More Review: “To Fall Among Vultures” by Scott Warren
I have a confession to make. It’s been bothering me a long time, in fact my whole life. The reality is, I don’t tie my shoes the way everyone else does. It started off innocently enough. When I was little, my father taught me how to tie my shoes the “right” way, and I did … More The Truth About Tying Your Shoes
As I keep working on The Key of Solomon, the sequel to Salome’s Charger, due for release at Christmas, I’m eager to share it with you. Here’s a snippet to give you a chance to see a little bit of what it’s about: A cold northern wind had picked up and the light rain that … More Sneak Peek 2: “The Key of Solomon”
A while back, I wrote a blog entitled, Things We Don’t Talk About, and it was mainly about sex. There are lots of people talking about sex, but the people who need to talk about it really aren’t talking. That’s usually the case; the topics that are taboo ARE talked about. They’re just not talked … More Things We Don’t Talk About, Part II
For those who haven’t been keeping up with my life, we are dealing with an aging cat that has congestive heart failure. After the sadness goes away, comes the medication, and the reality: how do we get pills and nasty liquid medicine down a stubborn tomcat’s mouth twice a day? The videos on YouTube make … More Tuna, Texas
The Great Adventure 