“All things fade and quickly turn to myth.” — Marcus Aurelius 2019 was a tough year.  I kept thinking it was going to slow down, but it wasn’t to be.  I was away from home every month for work, family, or writing.  On a positive(?) note, I visited much of the United States this past […]

I own a classic truck.  A good definition of a classic vehicle is that it’s old enough that no one else wants to buy it from you, but not so far gone that it’s ready for the junkyard.   This one’s a 1995 F-150. Of course, some dealer would be happy to give me a “good […]

Yesterday was my 30th wedding anniversary.  As I tell my wife, it’s been thirty looong glorious years.  It was also her birthday (I’m not saying how many, because I want to live to see another day), and my parent’s wedding anniversary.  As if that wasn’t enough, I finished the latest revision of my book (Now […]

What is so bad about a cliché? I see the comment sometimes in critiques — “This is a cliché.”  Some people say it so much that pointing out a cliché has become a cliché.  Is that like the pot calling the kettle black? My first response is usually, “So what?”  I guess I don’t get […]

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a rich patron to support your artistic endeavors?  No more can’t-afford-to-quit-my-day-job blues.  You could be like Shakespeare and have your writing supported by the Queen of England, or maybe Michaelangelo, who had the financial backing of the pope.  Imagine the heights to which your art will soar. Or maybe, […]

There was an article in Archeology Magazine a few years ago about the diet of Roman gladiators and how it helped them maintain a fat layer to minimize the damage from being cut.  Basically, they consumed a vegetarian diet high in carbohydrates which supposedly maintained this fat layer.  for superficial cuts, the fat layer would […]

This year I’ll have been married for thirty glorious years.  Yes, with the same woman.  We know each other better than peanut butter knows jelly.  Our secret to staying together is that we have a system worked out.  I know she’s going to tell me how to do something (everything), and she knows I’m going […]

I ran across an article a couple of months ago about a new species of rat discovered in the Solomon Islands.  This rat can weigh more than two pounds and grow up to a foot and a half in length.  Apparently, it lives in trees and eats coconuts.  Not only eats them, but cracks open […]

And NaNoWriMo ends with the Charlotte Creeping Crud.  Why am I not surprised?  I spent the last three days of November trying to fight off this latest bit of nastiness floating around Charlotte.  I am tempted to blame my lack of 50,000 words on this, but it would be a convenient excuse.  To be honest, I […]

Some lady yelled “Loser!” at me the other day.  I don’t know why.  I was driving well within the speed limit. Then I got to thinking maybe she was right.  My mom always told me that I’d lose my brain if it wasn’t attached.  Come to think of it, my wife tells me all the […]