It’s been a year since I left teaching, and I miss it. One of the things I miss the most is my student writer’s club that met every Thursday, Rough Writers. We’d get together and plan events, do writing exercises, and most importantly, critique each other’s ongoing writing projects. What I got a kick out … More Why You Should/Should Not Write a Book Series
I’ve been writing a long time. Two dozen published books, a handful of awards, and several hundred articles and short stories published leads my students and fans to ask a lot of questions. And one of the questions that comes up pretty often is: “Where do you get the ideas for your books?” Well, the … More How It All Starts
Years ago, when I was a magazine editor, I was in New York City at Folio Magazine meetings. We were starting our own magazine, and were there to gather as much sage advice as we could before we were swallowed up by the production machine. I remember the advice one editor gave us: “The hardest … More The Hardest Chapter to Write
Despite my better sense, I’ve been mulling over the sequel to the book I just launched, Soul Survivor. Here’s a taste: Salzburg, Austria After his introduction, the gray-haired man in his 60s got up from his chair on the platform amid applause from the small audience. He looked out over the thirty-some people in the … More Short Story: “The Serpent and the Dove”
Like most of my short stories, this one is based loosely on a dream. It was an ordinary police station, for the most part. The main desk where the sergeant usually sat was situated front and center, with half a dozen desks organized carefully in rows behind. Glass partitions separated a few, more private areas, … More Short Story: “The Night King”
NaNoWriMo is coming along swimmingly. So far, I’m ahead of schedule. I’m not killing myself off, both because I don’t have to and because I don’t want the quality of my writing to suffer (too much). But I wanted to take a moment to think about projects that didn’t make the cut. Sometimes you write … More Where do you bury the bodies?
Ruhanna’s Flight and Other Stories by Jeanette O’Hagan. By the Light Books. 259 pages. Once again, I have joined the group of Christian speculative writers on Goodreads who have agreed to honestly review each other’s books, and once again, I am glad I did. Ruhanna’s Flight is a collection of short stories that is unlike … More Review: “Ruhanna’s Flight and Other Stories” by Jeanette O’Hagan
Grand Marshall E. Pluribus Unum was bored. Bored and worried. He looked out through the picture window of his home overlooking the small country of Lilia and sighed. It had been five years since peace and independence had been declared. And not much had happened since then. Nothing but prosperity it seemed. Farmers had returned … More Short Story: “The Great Cantaloupe War”
October 19, 2021 San Agustin, New Mexico Rubik watched the yellow cloud of dust on the horizon drawing closer to them, the lone rider on his brown horse galloping fiercely across the New Mexico high desert like out of some western. “Look at him,” Rubik said, staring at the distant figure of Eli through … More Short Story: “Deal With the Devil”
“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Mark 8:36 NIV It isn’t until you look the Devil in the eye for the first time–really look at him–that you realize that you have seen him before. I was actually going to introduce this story as the time I … More Short Story: “The Devil Went Down to Tulsa”
The Great Adventure 