A Trade with another Bibliophile

I set up a meeting with a friend of a friend, both of whom are writers in the Philippines, to get some book connections here. I’ve never actually met either friend in person so it took me a bit out of my comfort zone, but was totally worth it. Jahric came to the condo after…

Inspiration coming from all directions

I have been spending a lot of time on a road trip to celebrate and commemorate my retirement (from the office, not from writing). I’m more than halfway through and with 31 days of travel under our belts I have gathered a lot of new inspiration and stories. The trip began as a Route 66…

Bookish Birthday

It started out as most Saturdays do for me. Quietly, with coffee. But then I heard through the grapevine (thank you Kathy and Paul) that Stephen King was speaking just minutes away from me and the day turned into a literary focused 60th birthday. To be clear, it didn’t really turn into my 60th birthday….

Short Stories are Life (Lifer?)

Remember the horror story you lived through three years ago (or 3 months ago, 30 years ago, whatever)? Maybe everyone survived, maybe not, maybe it brought about a new normal, maybe it spawned a fresh hell. How about that past love story? Or the current one? Maybe there were or are a lot of tears…

It is Only the Middle

Views are all about perspectives, am I right? The top of a hill looks different when the sun is shining versus when it is capped by dense fog or even roiling black storm clouds. The ocean appears vast when you’re up to your eyeballs in water, but not so much when you’re standing in knee…

Japan – Tokyo Writing Inspiration

I’ve had the luck and luxury of traveling to Japan in my previous life for work. Those trips were intense, scary, interesting, and took me way out of my comfort zone. Hopefully they were also productive and meaningful for my past employer and for the Japanese folks I met and worked with when I was…

Palm Desert Break for Writer’s Block Relief

I have the wonderful winter opportunity to visit the greater Palm Springs, California area with someone that has to spend all his time attending lectures, classes, and huge group events. One of the luckiest parts of this is that I don’t have to go to any of it. In fact, I can’t go to most…

Readers make me happy

Whether they are nieces, nephews, or friends from places 10,000 miles away, readers make me happy. And no, not only when they’re reading my books. They wouldn’t make me happy very long then, because I haven’t written many books. To me, reading, almost any genre, is a connection I feel with people. Kind of like…

It’s NaNoWriMo Time again!

November is National Novel Writing Month = NaNoWriMo I won (wrote 50,000+ words in the month) in 2013, 2014, 2015 and took 2016 off. So this year is the fourth year I’ve participated and I’ve chosen what I think is a terrific project. I am calling it CONFLICTED. It’s a Psychological Thriller with roots in…

Inspiration for Smugglers in Paradise series

A reader recently asked me what was the inspiration for my SMUGGLERS IN PARADISE series. This might be a good topic to talk about in a couple of blog posts. I’ll start with book one – GAME OF WIT AND CHANCE: BEGINNINGS. This story is best described as a family saga using passion and tragedy…