“Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.” (Henry David Thoreau) How we do talk about time! We save it. We waste it. We beg for it. We need it. We wish for it. If I only had more time, we’re wont to say. With time, I could do so much more, we promise. Where did the time go, …
Judging a Book by the Cover
One of the most exciting parts of getting a book published is seeing the cover that the publisher’s art department creates to represent your story. I really like the cover for my new book releasing in February. The girl looks like Adriane in the book and I love the city backdrop. The story is set in 1855 Louisville and I …
Fan Letters
“Hands down, the biggest thrill is to get a letter from a kid saying, I loved your book. Will you write me another one?” (Kate DiCamillo) Have you ever written an author a fan letter? When I first started writing back before the internet made communication instant and easy, I would get a few letters from readers sent to the publisher and then …
Signing Books in Cincinnati
I love book fairs. That’s because I love talking books with other writers and readers. The only bad thing about book fairs is that I want to carry a heavy load of books home with me when I go. Of course it’s fun seeing readers adding my books to their armloads as they walk around looking at the offerings too. …
The Sky is Always There
Leaves or no leaves, the sky is always there. The firs up on top of the Smoky Mountains are being killed by a very small insect. They say it is so small that it’s hard to see, and yet it has destroyed forests of fir trees and denuded the tops of the mountains in places. We sometimes think if we …
Clouds Matter
“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” ~Edward Abbey Sometimes clouds matter. In a landscape photo or in a story. This is one of many photos I took this week on a visit to the Smoky Mountains. For the last five years, we’ve …
Last Chance to Make It Right
“I have been correcting the proofs of my poems. In the morning, after hard work, I took a comma out of one sentence…. In the afternoon I put it back again.”– Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Last week I got the pages of my book, Words Spoken True, scheduled for release in February. That’s what’s in the photo along with a list of …
Desk Clean – Awaiting the Clutter of a New Story
If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk? (Dr. Laurence J. Peter) I had a goal last weekend of cleaning off my desk. I put it off as long as I could Saturday. Even washed windows instead of tackling the piles of accumulated papers, book catalogs, notes and cards, …
Mushroom Ideas
”Where do you get your ideas?” This is surely the question most writers hear the most. At least this writer does. How do you think up stuff? How did you think up this particular stuff? Those are all good questions and ones that are not always easy to answer. I’ve written a lot of books. Some of them have been published, and …
Dementia – The Memory Thief
Me and Mom “In Alzheimer’s [disease] the mind dies first: Names, dates, places-the interior scrapbook of an entire life-fade into mists of nonrecognition.” – Matt Clark My mother has dementia. Perhaps not quite the same as Alzheimer’s but definitely closely related like fraternal twins. I haven’t studied up on any of it, but I have seen the memory thieves in …