With the Democrats in control of the U. S. House, President Donald Trump seems to be reviving his base with fiery rhetoric.  We all know who members of that base are — Woebegone innocents of earlier days, a time when, if corn prices flourished, so did the nation. As a kid, my f

“You made it so easy.”  The woman on the other end of the phone laughed.  She was referring to an email I’d sent to friends about Barnes And Noble’s holiday 20% discount  on my books. I sent the message more for vanity than for sales.   I was tickled to see my novel, Hear

Heart Land is a fictional memoir of a bright and reckless boy growing up in rural Ohio in 1939, at the close of the Depression and before America’s entrance into World War II.  Ockley Green is a sleepy farming community where a kid with an active imagination is as likely to trick h

The time has come to begin the third rewrite of my memoir. The manuscript has laid fallow for a month, so I will look at it with fresh eyes, correcting imperfections and doing my best to serve my readers. When it reaches print, it will be the best effort I can make at this stage of my

In the writers’ pecking order, the author with a publisher stands taller than the one who is self-published.  Having a publisher implies someone other than the writer believes in the work enough to commit hard cash to producing it. Nonetheless, after working with 4 publishers, I’

This is embarrassing.  I went to a book sale the other day and sold all my novels, including my personal copy of Gothic Spring.  I sold it  by mistake.  The book is valuable to me because  I use it when I do readings. The pages are  dog-eared and marked with comments I wish to m

I opened an email the other day from my publisher.  Their note said they’d submitted my novel, Heart Land, for some book award.  If they’d had asked me, I’d have told them not to bother.  I don’t have much faith in awards.  Wherever people gather, politics is likely to fol

My friend and colleague, Susan Stoner, Sage Adair mystery series writer, sent me an article the other day with an “I told you so,” message.  Stoner self publishes her work and uses a distributor to make her series available in bookstore.  For some time, she’s encouraged me to

Today marks my 6th year as a blogger, writing 5 days a week (M-F) on the writing life and what other writers have to say about life.  Social commentary is the way I guess you’d categorize what I do,  for those who care about categories.  I don’t.  But I do care about my reader

My first novel, Heart Land is about to be republished with a new editor and in a new edition.  The story is about the hyjinx of a  boy, Oliver Larson,  growing up in rural American in 1940, prior to World War 11.  One of Oliver’s favorite hangouts is a bakery known as Ye Old Bak