I recently discovered something new, and I might have a problem.
It’s called Murdoku.
A while back, I noticed a friend working on one of these puzzle books. I asked her about it, and she told me how much fun they were. She seemed pretty enthusiastic, so I figured I’d give one a try.
Read MoreAnother quick update this week. We’re mostly settled into our new house. However, we are still working to get the old place ready for sale.
Unfortunately, I’m not the handiest guy to have around. When I was younger, I allowed that fact to bother me. I mean, it really irked me.
Read MoreKilling someone in a crime novel is surprisingly easy. I can do it in a sentence.
Read MoreI missed the last two weeks of newsletters which really bothers me.
I’d made it through the entire year without missing a week, so breaking that streak is frustrating. However, life has a way of rearranging our priorities.
Read MoreA few days ago, I was talking with my eighteen-year-old son about something his generation is missing.
“A third place.”
That was the term he used for somewhere other than home and work/school. A place where people simply go to hang out with friends or to meet others.
Read MoreThere are certain moments in life when we remember exactly where we were.
I was sitting in high school English class when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded.
I was in Germany when the Berlin Wall fell.
On September 11, 2001, I was asleep.
Read MoreI went down a musical rabbit hole this week with Eddie Money.
Read MoreI was thinking recently about ride-alongs, those opportunities for citizens to join a police officer for a shift.
Read MoreAs of Saturday morning, thirteen large wildfires were still burning across Eastern Washington, the home of my 509 Crime Stories. Combined, they have burned an estimated 451,310 acres.
Read MoreThis past week, I started Fletch by Gregory McDonald.
It was originally published in 1974 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. In 1985, it was made into a very funny movie starring Chevy Chase.
Have you ever heard a great piece of advice and said to yourself, “Oh, man! That’s good. I should write that down.”
But you don’t write it down because you’re busy, then you forget that great piece of advice by the next day. Sometimes you might remember days or weeks later; other times, it’s just lost forever.
Many folks wrote to ask how Rose the Office Dog handled the fireworks on the most recent Fourth of July. Since I was at the PSWA conference when the emails came in, I couldn’t update everyone.
Read MoreWhat word do you hate? I’m not talking about swear words, but every day, run-of-the-mill words.
Read MoreA couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my love of Rocky. That newsletter led me to think about a lot of movies I enjoyed as a kid and the memories that go along with them: Convoy, Star Wars, Hooper, Grease, and many more. Some of my favorite movie memories from my childhood occurred with my grandmother.
Read MoreHoopfest is the largest three-on-three basketball tournament in the world. You read that right. Spokane, Washington, the heart of my 509 Crime Stories, turns into the center of the basketball universe the last weekend of every June.
Read MoreWhen I was a boy, crying was discouraged, especially around your friends. It was the 1970s, and we weren’t as progressive as we are today.
Read MoreLast week, I shared my experience with a music AI tool I used as research for an upcoming book about a rock and roll band. Many folks wrote back and said how much they liked the music, for which I’m grateful. I enjoyed these conversations since many of them led down the rabbit hole of 1980s hair metal bands.
Read MoreArtificial Intelligence continues to be a hot topic. I learn something new about it daily, whether it is at my day job or in the writing field.
Read MoreI love playfully teasing my girlfriend in hopes of getting a reaction. It’s like the grade school antics of little boys who desperately want little girls to notice them. Negative attention (“Stop it, Billy!”) is better than no attention (“Billy who?”).
Read MoreIn the late 1990s, a former boss said to me, “We go forward by backing up.” This was in response to my losing a document because I did not save it. This was back in the day when Auto-Save wasn’t a possibility.
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