Leavenworth, Washington, may not be on the top of ’s travel list, but for those seeking a taste of European charm without leaving the country, this small town nestled in the Cascade Mountains is a must-visit destination
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The Vacant Lot movie trailer is out, and its website is up!
Vacant Lot is a movie written by Bill Bancroft. If you don’t know, I helped Bill write Tales from the Road, a rock and roll biography (more on this at the bottom of the post).
Cozy mysteries captivate readers and viewers alike with their intriguing blend of crime and comfort. They are a sub-genre of mystery novels that typically feature an amateur sleuth solving crimes in a small, tightly knit community, often with a touch of humor.
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Let’s be honest: we are a violent society. Crime is our national story and birthright. The colonist went west and became the cowboy; the cowboy became the gangster, who became the politician. Machiavellian principles of power prevailed.
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For law enforcement, the use of force is often necessary to maintain order and ensure the safety of both officers and civilians.
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John Adams (allegedly) said it first: “If a person is not a liberal when he is twenty, he has no heart; if he is not a conservative when he is forty, he has no head.” I know better than to disagree with the dead—there’s no way to win the argument—but John missed the boat with that one, at least as far as I’m concerned.
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It’s time that I look back on the previous quarter and review my successes and failures—what actions should I repeat, and which should I avoid. This is a good thing for anyone to do and I probably should apply such a thing to my personal life.
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Several years ago, I started tracking my annual reading. I did this after learning how important the most successful individuals valued reading. I wrote several posts over on my personal finance blog, The Bumbling Millionaire. When I stepped back from that project to focus on my crime fiction writing, I didn’t want to lose track of the annual reading list. It felt too important.
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The annual Army-Navy game occurred yesterday. I’ve never watched it with anyone but had shared it with my dad for many years. Before the games, we would call or text each other the traditional boasts.
Go Army—Beat Navy!
Go Navy—Beat Army!
There are so many delightful traditions at this time of year.
Decorations go up. Families get together. Colorful cookies are baked!
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I’m a movie star!
That might be hyperbole, but I am in a movie. Not a YouTube Short or an Instagram Reel that I filmed on my phone, but a real movie with a script, a director, and a film crew! It seems that I’m getting ahead of myself. Maybe I should slow down and explain how this all came about.
It all started when I was a kid.
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I’ve written previously about my reading plan. I try to read one non-fiction book for every fiction book I devour. It doesn’t always happen, but that’s the goal. Most of the time, those non-fiction books have to do with self-improvement.
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When I was in junior high school (the early ’80s), an English teacher handed out a page of funny writing rules. It didn’t attribute any authorship, so I always thought it was hers. I loved these guidelines so much that I kept them for many years until the paper became severely worn.
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I hate serial killers.
You might consider that a ludicrous statement as 99.9% of all people who’ve ever lived hate serial killers, too. The only ones who don’t hate serial killers are the killers themselves and their mothers.
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As an author, the most frequent question I’m asked is, “How do you write so much?”
I consider that a huge compliment. It wasn’t that many years ago that I didn’t write at all. I had lost my confidence and looked for excuses not to put words onto paper.
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Any list that says it’s the best of anything is subjective.
I just checked a top 10 list of dogs that like to play, and the Vizsla isn’t listed there. Hello? Rose the Office Dog would argue that its author has lost her mind. Rose is a frisbee maniac. A ball hog. The girl won’t stop playing. Spend a day with her, and you’ll put Rose at the top of a dogs-that-like-to-play list.
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A reader (Bryan) asked a question concerning the Cozy Up series. He wondered if the “Little Sister” nickname that U.S. Marshal Gayle Goodspeed call’s Beau was somehow related to True Grit. The question surprised me, and I asked why he believed it to have originated from there.
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When was the last time you had a performance review?
I have had more than a few in my life. There was one that I’d like to forget, but the others have passed mainly by without a hitch. I believe that the goal is to acknowledge the things that have gone well and find an item or two that can be improved.
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A friend asked why I joined the Army when my dad was a Navy veteran. It’s sort of a funny in a shallow, teenage way. I joined the Army for two reasons.
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Recently, I was on the highway and spotted the little blips of paint separating the lanes.
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