Like a friend throwing me a rope, inevitably the passages would haul me out of the impasse, and I’d be writing again.

I’m familiar with ye old 80/20 Rule but not 98/2. I’ve been mulling it over ever since.

Am I tinkering, or making material improvements?

In hindsight, my egoistic inexperience on what it takes to write “only” three thousand words kicked my tush.

After spending 15 months writing the first draft, then weeks doing follow-up research—for that matter, after giving up a 22-year profession.

But in light of today’s repression against writers, his [Vincent van Gogh's] letters have taken on new relevancy for me.

But to be honest, the bookcase clean-up also was a handy procrastination ploy to keep me from the real work I need to do.

Imagine my intrigue when I realized that the early 20th century is right on the heels of a time when capitalism is emerging.

In hindsight, January’s agitation acted as kind of a farm combine, sorting chaff from the wheat.

Being vulnerable once a day is plenty.

What do you see? Curiosity, I hope. A desire to learn…

True independence is independence from falsehood.

You can’t stuff a genie back into the bottle.

I write historical fiction because I am deeply passionate about the present.

When I was a kid I was always reading. I’d get so lost in a story Dad had to coax me out of the house to play flag football with my...

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. -Vincent van Gogh I'm in the middle of a big sort. In Vincent’s...

“If you ask me what I came into this life to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud.” — Emile Zola To live out loud! As in, not...

“I wonder if we are all wrong about each other, if we are just composing unwritten novels about the people we meet?” — Rebecca West I...

“The place where you made your stand never mattered. Only that you were there…and still on your feet.” — Stephen King I'm NOT on my feet....

Hello -- broken any rules lately? “If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun. ” — Katherine Hepburn I ask, because I’m trying. To...

Couldn’t help it. Had to butt right into the top of my own newsletter to announce I made a hole-in-one on the golf course! Skip to the...

“It takes a while, it’s gonna take you a while. It’s normal to take a while. You just have to fight your way through that.” -Ira Glass”...

First off, the most important thing I have to write is thank you. Thank you for reading this blog. Though I cut back on the frequency...