J. Todd Scott is one of of those folks I first met through social media and have had the pleasure of also meeting in person. I’ll always have a special affection for the first time we met because it was at the Bouchercon Putnam author party and I was there as a Stuart Woods co-author.…
I’ve known Michael Koryta for almost 20 years and he has read more terrible drafts of my attempts at a PI novel than anyone not related to me should ever have to read. He is one of the most generous and supportive writers in a community known for pretty generous and supportive authors. He’s never…
This is 49. I’m tired, I need a haircut, my therapist is late for my appointment, and this is the first birthday I’ve celebrated in a while without having a job, but I’m surviving and that seems to be an epic accomplishment these days so I’ll take it.
I’ve been on a run lately of memoirs and biographies of writers, actors, and performers I admire including Kelly Bishop, Carole King, Marvin Hamlisch, and Elmore Leonard. As much as I love reading stuff like this, it can also be an exercise in frustration for me as well. I lament that I wasn’t born to…
Other than two rejections from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, I haven’t had a short story rejected in more than fifteen years. I’ve had two this year already. That obviously hurts my confidence, but what’s worse is that I should have never written them in the first place. One of the reasons I haven’t had a rejection…
Note: Various versions of pieces of this appeared recently across my social media profiles and a few group texts, but I wanted to gather it all together in one place and smooth it out a bit, so I hope if you’ve already read some, or all, of this you don’t feel cheated. All I’ve ever…
I’ve been watching a lot of MURDER, SHE WROTE and COLUMBO lately partially as a comfort to the horrors of the real world and partially as research in trying to find the right tone and style for my typewriter mystery. Finding my current style – both creatively and in day-to-day life – has been one…
I’ve been thinking a lot about confidence lately. Unlike the marvelous Julie Andrews who sings the song from Sound of Music that this entry draws its title from, I do not have confidence. Or, rather, I’ve had trouble maintaining confidence personally and professionally for the last few years. Personally, it started at the end of…
Today is Halloween and we added that new Chucky balloon to our menagerie at the kids’ request. The weather has been unseasonably warm and I’ve complained about it a lot, but today for trick or treating it will be nice. Then it’s supposed to drop down into proper fall temperatures this weekend. I’m hoping to…
Today is my 48th birthday, and this year I’ve been very aware of how fast time passes and how much of my time has already passed. My kids are getting older and the two oldest will be out of high school soon and the youngest will be starting middle school. It’s exciting and sad all…