By the time I graduated high school, I had attended six schools in three different states (California, Ohio, and Washington). My family frequently moved for my dad’s work. That’s how a young boy ended up with an appreciation for the San Diego Padres, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Seattle Mariners but undying love for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Read MoreI thought it would be fun to do a game-review channel. Our family tends to play many board games, so it seemed a natural fit. It’s not the only idea for a YouTube channel that I’ve had. I’m sure there are others like me. We get a wild idea, play with it, and then put it away.
Read MoreI thought I would do something different this week and share one of my favorite scenes. This comes from my short story, “The Legend of Roy Utt,” which appears in the 509 Crime Anthology, A Bag of Dick’s.
Read MoreThe 2022 Left Coast Crime convention was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from April 7-10th. This was technically my third time attending LCC.
Read MoreGoodreads posed this question: “If you could travel to any fictional book world, where would you go, and what would you do there?”
Read MoreI thought I would try something different this week—a quarterly update for all things related to the writing life. I’ve never done this before, and I hope it provides more insight into how things are progressing. I’m not going to delay further with chit-chat. Let’s get started.
Read MoreI recently saw a question posed to authors: “Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?” This immediately reminded me of a YouTube video.
Read MoreAlways be where flip-flops can be worn.
If you could live your life by a single rule, what would it be?
That’s a question I asked myself one summer afternoon while running around my neighborhood in flip-flops.
Read MoreI love crime fiction movies above every other genre. Okay, Rocky is my favorite movie, and that’s a sports drama, but the genre falls short compared to crime fiction. The same goes for crime fiction. I love the original Star Wars, but I’d rather watch any movie on the below list than A New Hope.
Read MoreMy writing career began in 1996. Sometime during that year, I sat at my computer and wrote a single-page story. It featured a cop drinking in a bar. Anger and bluster filled every word. It was an unreadable tale written by an unhappy man.
Read MoreThere’s a well-established financial concept known as “pay yourself first. It can be applied to creative types as well.
Read MoreHere’s something from the way-back machine. While digging through some old digital files, I found these pictures and thought I would share them.
In 2006, I noodled around with the idea of drawing a comic book. I wasn’t writing much at this point and was looking for a creative outlet. Unfortunately, I’m not that great of an artist, and that was made clear by my inability to draw faces.
Read MoreHere’s another art project from many years ago. I made this with a digital camera and Adobe Photoshop. It’s here for a bit of silliness and to share the creative things a writer finds himself experimenting with.
Read MoreIf you’re an aspiring writer, a struggling author, or a novelist who is ascending their way up the sales charts, then this article is for you. If you’re none of those things, this article also applies to bloggers, YouTubers, and anyone else who creates content.
Read MoreHere’s a fun art project I did many years ago. It was made with a digital camera, a quick script, and Adobe Photoshop.
Read MoreDo you have a favorite book? A favorite movie? Or a favorite song? For them to be your favorite, you’ve had to enjoy them more than once.
Have those favorites remained that way through the years? That’s the tricky question because time plays no favorites.
Read MoreWhen was the last time you watched the same movie twice—on back-to-back nights?
Read MoreAs a writer, I love platforms where readers and authors can congregate together.
Beyond reviewing/rating books, these are cool places where all of us can share our favorite books. If something gets sold, it happens elsewhere. What occurs at these free sites is the sharing of ideas. I wanted to tell you about a couple that I use (maybe you already do, too).
Read MoreTrue story.
Recently at a coffee shop with three early twenty baristas behind the counter, each wearing a vintage rock & roll t-shirt—the Rolling Stones, Nirvana, and Led Zeppelin.
Read MoreAlong with books, I like movies, television, and music. Let me correct that. I LOVE those things—big heart emoji type of love. As such, I’ve wanted to make some ‘Best/Top’ lists for quite some time. This will be my first, and I thought I should start with a film genre that I love maybe more than any other—the ‘buddy cop’ film.
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