Bones In the Sand: A Halloween Tale

It’s almost Halloween. Time for a spooky story! “Bones In the Sand” is a short story I wrote in 1991 for my children, especially for my son. It has skeletons in it for all you bone lovers to enjoy on this Halloween. Happy scary reading. It rained on the island for five days. On that … Continue reading Bones In the Sand: A Halloween Tale

Night of the Hell Hounds: Short Stories to Haunt You

Check out my volume of fantasy short stories centered on the eerie town, Ridgewood, available in electronic and paperback formats. Get the ebook here: Night of the Hell Hounds and Other Stories from the Ridgewood Chronicles. Get the paperback here: Night of the Hell Hounds and Other Stories from the Ridgewood Chronicles. You can read … Continue reading Night of the Hell Hounds: Short Stories to Haunt You

Ridgewood Living

When I was at college years ago, I studied playwriting. I learned about stage and theater, the differences between three-act, four-act, and five-act play structure, and Aristotle’s Rising Action, Climax, and Denouement. I took what I learned to become a better writer when writing my books. While I wrote, I imagined my characters on stage … Continue reading Ridgewood Living

Ridgewood Growth

I started writing fiction when I was nine. They were baseball stories about the struggles, triumphs, and defeats of the game. During my early teens, I transitioned from writing stories about ballgames to writing stories about haunted houses and graveyards, supernatural creatures, and even aliens from other planets. I kept notebooks filled with plot ideas. … Continue reading Ridgewood Growth

Check Out My Book of Short Stories

Ridgewood Places

Last week, I celebrated my dad’s 90th birthday with him at his cozy one-bedroom apartment. We talked about current and past events, which led us to comparing now to then. He lives in the town he and I grew up in, so we talked a lot about the town’s scenic changes. The question “Do you … Continue reading Ridgewood Places

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

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.