Free eBooks Today

Get free ebooks of Night of the Hell Hounds and Trespassing today and next Friday at Amazon. Enjoy the spooky fun of Halloween by including my books in your library. You’ll find stories for young and old and read about ghosts, witches, monsters, and more in the pages of my books. Save some money and … Continue reading Free eBooks Today

For the Love of Short Stories

On the 20th last week, I celebrated with my dad his 91st birthday. I took him to lunch, then sat with him in his apartment and talked about the past: “The Good Ol’ Days” as many people who lived in the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s tend to call those decades. He grew up in a … Continue reading For the Love of Short Stories

Discovery, Surprise, and Fun When Writing

I am neither a plotter nor a pantser when I write my books, yet I do both. Plotters blueprint their stories with outlines; pantsers don’t. Authors who don’t outline, “walk with their characters and listen to what they have to say,” to paraphrase William Faulkner. As a mostly-writes-short-stories author, I don’t outline my plots but … Continue reading Discovery, Surprise, and Fun When Writing

Paperback Winner Results

Thanks to everyone who took part in my paperback books giveaway in July. Unfortunately, there were no winners. I plan to have another contest after I publish the third book in my Ridgewood Chronicles series. Here are the answers to the five questions I posted for the contest: 1. What is Vree Erickson’s actual first … Continue reading Paperback Winner Results

Ridgewood Chronicles Cover Art

July is always my busiest month of birthdays, graduation parties, celebrating the Fourth, and the lawnmowing, weed pulling, and other lawn and garden requirements it brings. All that busyness creates a productivity freefall in my art and writing projects, including this blog. So, while some of us are sad to see the month end, I … Continue reading Ridgewood Chronicles Cover Art

Write More Stories

I posted the second book of the Ridgewood Chronicles Trespassing: A Vree Erickson YA Novella on my My Books page. No sooner had I finished than I heard an objection from Lenny Stevens, one of my characters. His objection is about me changing Vree’s point of view in her stories from third person to first. … Continue reading Write More Stories

Win Two Paperback Books

Happy Fourth of July to all my U.S. readers. The second book of the tenth anniversary editions of the Ridgewood Chronicles is out. I’m pleased to announce the publication of Trespassing: A Vree Erickson YA Novella in digital and paperback formats through Amazon. You can get the digital book here: amazon.com/dp/B00B1UOE7S, or the paperback here: … Continue reading Win Two Paperback Books

The main character is based on some authors I know. Some are full of self-importance; some aren't. Some just write…

Healing implies an end, but writing Hadestown was more like learning to walk with a limp. You don’t fix the damage, you…

Thanks, purplegoatee, glad you're enjoying this.

I make comments as I read. Lines I particularly like. For example, "Mark would’ve called that “too on the nose,”…

Great observations, Joseph, and sadly, so true about writers. The writing group I presided over for many years ended up…

I used to attend a writer's critique group and I always tried to frame comments in a positive manner and…

Thanks Joseph. Wishing you a wonderful 2026.

Congrats on the getting the new book to proof reading. We have been getting a lot more snow than normal…

Thanks Max. I like the rocking Kenny too.

Glad you are getting it done Steve! Love that Kenny Rogers song as well...I like the rocking Kenny.