Writing
AFTER THE CHASE, INDELIBLE MEMORIES
Was it fun? people ask, knowing I’ve just returned from a tornado chase on the Great Plains. Sure it was fun. If your idea of fun is sitting in a van for 10 hours a day, reeling in the miles (3500 of them in seven days); or waiting and waiting and waiting for something to…
Read MoreCHASING ‘NADERS
On the final day, Day 7, of our storm chase, we returned to the Red River Valley to stalk storms forming on the Texas dryline. We knew conditions wouldn’t be right for tornadoes, but at least we’d be close to Oklahoma City, our departure point the following day, Saturday. So Friday’s journey took us from…
Read MoreYELLOW BRICK ROADKILL?
Friday I leave for Oklahoma City where my week-long quest for the wily, or sometimes not so wily, tornado will begin. My wife is absolutely convinced I’m a dead man walking; certain I’ll get swept up like Dorothy and end up as road kill on the Yellow Brick Freeway. More likely, if conditions ripe for…
Read MoreWHAT DOES AN AUTHOR DO BETWEEN BOOKS?
So what does an author do between books? Well, to be blunt, there is no such thing as “between” books. “Among” books maybe, or “all done” with books perhaps, but no “between.” At the moment, I’m still dealing with Eyewall; plotting strategy for the release of ______ (yes, sad to report, there’s still no official…
Read MoreDON’T FORGET TO TAKE THE DOG FOR A WALK
Is the fact that Eyewall has moved into the second round of judging for the Best First Novel competition in the International Thrillers Writers organization a big deal? I don’t know. Remember, I’ve been a published novelist for less than a year. I’m a rookie in the business. This is all new to me. So…
Read MoreIS BOOK PUBLISHING BROKEN?
Book Publishing is Broken. That was the title of a weekly “marketing tip” I received recently via email. The essence of the tip, it turned out, wasn’t so much that publishing is broken as that its current business model is broken and a new one is in the throes of being born. For example, with…
Read MoreSTAND BACK, MY HEAD MAY EXPLODE
Before I became a published novelist, authors who had broken trail ahead of me warned that I, as a writer of fiction, would probably always have three books in my head: the one most recently published, the one currently being written, and the one after that. I didn’t quite believe that, or at least thought…
Read MorePacific Glory
I suppose this is an appropriate date–Pearl Harbor Day–to tell you about a novel, Pacific Glory, I read recently that really struck a chord with me. Typically, I’m a thriller-mystery-suspense kind of guy, but I guess I was ready for a change of pace. So I picked up a book that promoted itself as “a…
Read MoreUPON FURTHER REVIEW…
I’ve often bemoaned the fact that it took me so darned long, ten years, to get my first novel published after I began seriously writing fiction. I understand there’s a learning curve involved and that almost all novelists have to follow the arc of that curve to learn the craft. But ten years? Perhaps–and there’s…
Read MoreYOUR EBOOK IS HOW MUCH!?
I was doing a little chest beating last week, talking to my brother on the phone and telling him about Eyewall’s success on Amazon.com as the “Kindle Daily Deal.” On October 11, the Seattle-based retail giant dropped the price of Eyewall’s eBook edition to 99¢ for the day. And faster than you could shout “Fire…
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