Soon to Be a Major…?

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Soon To Be a Major Motion Picture! Those were the bold and thrilling words emblazoned across the top of the very first paperback edition of Florida Straits in 1993. The … Read More

Chickens–A Tale of Raw Courage

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  By coincidence, or so it seemed, the rooster set up shop on the far side of the compound fence just around the time old Bert had his fall. The … Read More

The Chihuahua Made Me Do It

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The world was new and life was simple then. The year, I think, was 1999. Facebook hadn’t yet been founded. The iPhone was a far-off gleam in Apple’s eye. People … Read More

Belly Laughs in a Serious World

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Does anyone out there remember the 1941 Preston Sturges classic, Sullivan’s Travels? The protagonist of that wonderful film is a highly successful director of unabashedly escapist Hollywood comedies who wakes … Read More

Freedom is a Talking Dog

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Some books—the writing of them, I mean—just seem to start themselves. A first sentence pops into your head. You hear a scrap of dialogue—either out in the world or between … Read More

The 24-Hour Novel

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Some writers seem to know what they’re doing when they start a novel. Some—or so I’ve been told—even have a complete outline or a stack of index cards with planned … Read More

How do you get your ideas?

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It’s a question that all novelists dread, generally because they don’t know the answer, and it’s a little embarrassing to be utterly baffled by a perfectly legitimate question regarding one’s … Read More

Brave New Solo World

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Consider this an invitation to a very quiet, long-distance sort of party. I’m inviting you to celebrate with me the completion of a project that’s been obsessing me for the … Read More

The Joy of Writing Epilogues

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Writing novels is not the easiest thing in the world but it does offer definite rewards—for example, being read, hearing from readers, and getting paid. Those are the obvious satisfactions, … Read More

The Naked Detective Revisited

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Like most writers, I think, I tend largely to forget about my own books once I’ve written them. This is fortunate, because if I kept my old stuff too firmly … Read More

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