Often, when I am critiquing others I’ll ask:  Who is the Point of View character?  This probably isn’t technically accurate.  Point of View (POV) in fiction writing has to do with the narrator more than the character.  There are many references available on point of view, so I’ll just give a basic definition for each: […]

I’ve been working on the final revision of this novel.  It is the third book in my Kingdom of Haven series.  Soon it will be off to the editor, and then out in the world.   It will be available around November.  More details to come. In the meantime, here is the cover design by […]

I attended ConCarolinas yesterday with my daughter.  It has become somewhat of a tradition for us to attend cons.  We shoot for the smaller local cons because they are typically more intimate than some of the bigger ones.  We started years ago with MarsCon out of Williamsburg, VA; tried out RavenCon in Richmond, VA; StellarCon […]

My short story “Santa Doesn’t Work Here Anymore” will be coming your way this Christmas.  It will be appearing in the anthology Short and Twisted Christmas Tales sponsored by the North Texas Speculative Fiction Workshop. This story has been sitting in my pile waiting for the right venue.  It feels good to get it out […]

I just started submitting short stories again.  No excuses—I stopped sending stuff out to focus on my novels.  Okay, that was my official excuse, and I’m sticking with it.  Looking back, it wasn’t the best plan.  Be that as it may, it’s been a few years since I submitted stories.  I’m guessing I’m not alone […]

  A couple of recent season finales have made me think about how to do a cliffhanger right.  To be honest, the last season finale of The Walking Dead pissed me off enough to stop watching the show, and it made me think about how they did it wrong. To do a cliffhanger correctly, you […]

I’m working on the 3rd draft of my latest project. I still don’t have a good title for it, right now I’m calling it Wolf Book 3. As I was sifting through reader feedback, I wondered how many drafts it normally takes for me to get that completed feeling. I looked back at the last […]

I finished the UCSD Copyediting certificate program.  The program consisted of four quarterly classes: Grammar Lab, Copyediting I, II, and II.  The editing project for the last class was pretty challenging.  I recommend this to anyone who is looking to improve their grammar skills and who wants to learn how to use copyediting marks, style sheets, and […]

I’ve been sitting in Procrastination Station for too long.  I don’t have a good excuse except for that pesky elephant that’s been smirking at me from across the room. You know that old joke: How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time. This one is a whopper and has been daring me […]

I was thinking this the other day while waiting for an appointment with my physical therapist. Recent back problems have slowed me down and made me think about age.  My wife says that turning fifty is why I’m suddenly worrying about age, which is probably true too. I thought having a midlife crisis was going […]