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I LOVE BEING A NOVELIST
I had the most unexpected thing happen to me last weekend at Barnes & Noble in Kennewick, Washington, where I was signing copies of my newest novel, WHEN HEROES FLEW: BLACK THURSDAY. Near the end of my signing, a man whom I didn’t know came up to me with two copies of a book I’d…
Read MoreI TURNED 85 TODAY
I turned 85 today. I’m old. That’s not a pejorative statement, or a boastful one. It’s just a fact. I made the same claim in a blog when I turned 80. And somebody jumped all over me for it. Here’s what happened. I sent a draft of that blog to a gal whom I had…
Read MoreSTEPPING ON MY AUTHOR’S PONCHO
Oh, good grief. You’d think I’d know how to write a novel by now. But, noooo. I recently showed my alpha beta-reader, better known as my wife Barbara, the first two chapters of my work in progress (WIP). Allow me to inject here that Barbara is more than a beta reader. A beta reader usually…
Read MoreTHE THREE BOOKS ALWAYS ON A NOVELIST’S MIND
If the subject matter of this blog looks familiar, it’s because you read it in my newsletter a couple of months ago. Yes, I believe in plagiarism—as long as it’s my own stuff. So let’s jump into it. It’s been said, I’m not sure by whom, that a novelist typically has three books at a…
Read MorePLEASE, SOMEBODY, MAKE ME AN OFFER . . .
Being a published author opens me up to input and comments from the public. Most are uplifting and positive. A few are caustic, but that’s just part of doing business. Then there are the occasional email solicitations I receive that seem downright insulting . . . to my intelligence. Here’s an example: “I hope this…
Read MorePROVENANCE OF EACH NOVEL IN THE WHEN HEROES FLEW SERIES—PART II
This blog is a continuation of the one I posted last week about the background of each of my WHEN HEROES FLEW novels. DOWN A DARK ROAD This novel, strictly speaking, isn’t part of the WHEN HEROES FLEW series, but it is closely related. Unlike my other WWII historical fiction books, the protagonist in this…
Read MorePROVENANCE OF EACH NOVEL IN THE WHEN HEROES FLEW SERIES—PART I
Provenance is just a fancy word for “origin” or “history.” I’m thinking my use of it makes me sound more authorial and learned. You’re probably thinking it makes sound like a jerk. Okay, let’s call it a draw. But I’ll give a brief background of each novel anyhow. WHEN HEROES FLEW This novel, my first…
Read MoreAT LEAST I DIDN’T WAKE UP IN CHINA
I had a strange dream a few nights ago. A really strange dream—unlike any I’d ever had before. Up until that particular night, the dreams I had always involved people I knew or had known. And they usually took place in locations with which I was familiar. But on the night of my bizarre fantasy,…
Read MoreI WISH I WERE A BETTER WRITER
For reasons I can’t explain, or even understand, my recent visit to southeastern Alaska’s Misty Fjords triggered a deep emotional response within me. My wife Barbara urged me to write about it before my feelings became lost in my own mists of memory. So I did. I wish I were a better writer. I wish…
Read MoreWORLD WAR II AND THE ROCK GROUP “KISS”
It’s surprising, amazing even, the links to today that can snake unexpectedly out of the past. One such connection revealed itself to me as I worked on my new novel DOWN A DARK ROAD. The focus of the novel is based on true events—the discovery of a Nazi death camp, Gunskirchen Lager, in Austria near…
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