Blog
WHEN I GROW TOO OLD TO DREAM
As I trudge down the road of life, passing through the Geezerhood Gates onto a shorter, steeper trail, I find myself more often glancing behind me as opposed to looking ahead. I say this not to be maudlin—for I’m sure it is a view all of us of a certain age hold—but as a mere…
Read MoreWAFS and WASPs
I have to admit, while I was writing When Heroes Flew (nee Oregon Grinder) I was apprehensive over whether a female character flying a combat mission with U.S. Army Air Forces in WWII would be well received. In reality, that kind of thing just didn’t happen. At least in our army. Purists, I feared, might…
Read MoreHOW BEING A WRITER IS LIKE BEING A QUARTERBACK ON A BAD TEAM
Those of you who’ve been in the writing business for awhile and have attempted to get traditionally published know what a discouraging, demeaning, difficult challenge that is. It’s like being a quarterback on a football team with a porous offensive line. You know you’re going to get sacked frequently. Only in the book business, you…
Read MoreGRINDING OUT OREGON GRINDER
Last October, I wrote a blog about why, as an author, I was switching genres, summing up the reason with the statement “because I want to.” That’s true. But there’s also a hidden story behind the reason. It deals with weather, the framework for three of my five previous novels. (As many of you may recall,…
Read MoreSWITCHING GENRES—AN AUTHOR’S NO-NO . . . SO WHY AM I DOING IT?
The conventional wisdom in the world of writing is that it may be unwise for an author, once he’s established himself (or herself) as a writer in a particular genre, to switch genres. So why, then, am I switching genres? I’ve carved out a bit of a name for myself as a guy who turns…
Read MoreBLUNT TALK ABOUT SUPERCELL
I wasn’t aware of it until my publisher, BelleBooks, pointed it out, but May 4th is National Weather Observers Day. And maybe BelleBooks wasn’t aware of it until I mentioned it, but the month of May marks the climatological peak of tornado season (see graphic below). On average, more twisters rip across the U. S.…
Read MoreB-24s AND LUFTWAFFE PILOTS
It’s been awhile since I’ve written a blog, mainly because I feel the the media universe has become super-saturated with them. Same thing with author newsletters and books in general. So I’ll understand if only a few people ever read this. But I thought I’d blather briefly about what I’ve begun working on while novel…
Read MoreBUZZ BERNARD IS A TERRIBLE WRITER
The first time I received a negative review of one of my novels I felt as if I’d been gut-punched. I tiny wave of nausea surged through me. That was over six years and five novels ago. Since then, I’ve learned to roll with the punches. Thumbs-down evaluations of my works, I’ve come to understand,…
Read MoreBIG WORDS VS. LITTLE ONES
One of the beta-readers for my forthcoming novel, FIREWIND, took me to task (which is what I expect beta-readers to do) for using several “big” or “obscure” words when more common words would have sufficed. He pointed out, correctly, that readers get annoyed if they have to constantly refer to a dictionary. In truth, novelists are…
Read MoreHIRING A PUBLICIST–A GOOD OR BAD IDEA?
Here’s a link to a guest blog I wrote for Southern Writers Magazine discussing the pros and cons of hiring a book publicist.
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