My prior blog post dealt with Ernest Hemingway, and the inordinately strong influence his writing style had on so many young authors, including myself. In that post, I recalled a high school English teacher, who had been a writing mentor for me—she admonished me to “Get that man out of your head!” But doing [...]
Ernest Hemingway is revered by some and despised by others. But regardless of one’s personal perspectives on the man or his writing, it is impossible to assess the history of American fiction without acknowledging his influence. And because of that, PBS recently aired a six-hour documentary on his life and work. Hemingway’s prose style [...]
Recently, President Biden accused the governors in Texas and Mississippi of “Neanderthal thinking” because those states were preparing to lift mask requirements in defiance of recommendations from the CDC and other scientists and doctors. Many people, including myself, agreed with the President’s position on mask wearing, but many didn’t—and the purpose of this blog [...]
Having practiced yoga and meditation for over half a century, I tend to be a calm, patient, and unflappable fellow. Few things annoy me. So, it’s odd that I find it really grating when someone refers to a pair of pants as “a pant.” For me, hearing that is as jarring as nails on [...]
I write novels. Writers will tell you that good writing involves far more rewriting and editing than it does spewing out intuitively inspired prose. We all do a lot of self-editing in the course of producing a manuscript. But if our work is being published, there comes a time when we must work with [...]
When I was working with my publisher on the novel Enemy Queen, people at the press seemed pleased that my book included a murder mystery, and had a few erotic episodes as well. Evidently, mystery and erotica are both very popular among readers. The penchant for mystery is understandable, and fairly straightforward. A recent [...]
The release date for my novel Enemy Queen had grown close, and the Editorial Project Manager at SparkPress, the book’s publisher, asked me if I’d like to contribute a Behind the Book post for their website. She suggested the topic: “how to plot an erotic thriller.” As soon as I finished reading the email [...]
Shortly after my novel Enemy Queen was published, I discovered that another novel which employed chess as a theme, Spurious Games, had been published at about the same time in England. Both books also featured a murder mystery, along with a good dose of wicked humor. It turned out that the author of Spurious [...]
The term “Plant Based” is suddenly trendy. As a writer, I find this interesting—I’m always curious about the newest permutations of words and phrases that establish themselves in the English language—and I am fascinated observing which such additions evanesce, and which endure. But I’m even more intrigued by this term’s ascension because I am [...]
I recently found myself reading an article on the web. It purported to reveal the correct way to write a novel. I am immediately distrustful of anyone who insists that there is only one correct way of doing anything. I believe I have some good empirical evidence to back this up. Before committing to [...]
