Ridgewood Beginnings

I was 13 when I created a fictional rural town that became Ridgewood, Pennsylvania. I was an eighth-grade high school student who owned a portable Remington typewriter. That instrument and my imagination allowed me to escape from the ordinary world. I’m not saying my life was boring or difficult, but like the child who turns … Continue reading Ridgewood Beginnings

Baseball Love

Another baseball season is winding down. Some teams will head into playoffs and others will be closing their ballfields and clubhouses until April of next year. It always brings a lump to my throat to see the season end. People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what … Continue reading Baseball Love

Girl on a Train, Poem 2024-0831

Below is a poem I wrote in 1977, a year after I met the girl featured in the poem. I kept it to myself until April 6, 2016, when I published it on my Art ~ Writing ~ Life blog. Enjoy. I awoke this morning to voices on the wind, Echoes of past, present, and … Continue reading Girl on a Train, Poem 2024-0831

Hell Hound Cover Update

Earlier this month I shared with you the new cover for my ebook Night of the Hell Hounds and Other Stories from the Ridgewood Chronicles, available at Amazon.com. I wrote that the illustration is quite dark and that dark illustrations don’t copy well via Amazon KDP’s POD paperback book market. (I have a couple failed … Continue reading Hell Hound Cover Update

Loving the New

I’ve been a creative for as long as I can remember. I drew, painted, wrote, built things—and still do … always from my imagination, and always doing over and over to see new results. My wife calls me a perfectionist, but it’s never perfection I look for. It’s the “new” that I endeavor—the different, the … Continue reading Loving the New

A Grumble Post

Sometime in March, my Facebook page stopped showing my WordPress posts feeds. I haven’t found out why, but both FB/Meta and WP/Jetpack tell me everything is in working order at their ends. (Does anyone else smell something rotten in those answers?) After I was unable to resolve the problem, I changed the name of my … Continue reading A Grumble Post

2012.9.26 Art: Evolution of a Painting

Hi everyone. I’m back at the computer after taking a week off. I hope all my United States readers and followers had a great Fourth of July. This repost features the evolution of a black bear I painted in acrylic on canvas in 1989. Enjoy. It began the year before, in 1988. Black bear weren’t … Continue reading 2012.9.26 Art: Evolution of a Painting

That's the best attitude to have. We never know when the book gods may favor us. :)

Thanks for that, Joseph. I'm hoping to get some new readers with the promotion. But if I don't, it won't…

Happy Valentine's day and best of luck with your book promotion.

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.