• "Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense." Mark Twain
    Artwork,  General Thoughts,  Novels (my writing updates)

    How much truth is in my fiction?

    Writing what I knew as a teenager I loved reading when I was a kid, and I began writing as a teenager. The results of my early efforts were 7 handwritten “finished” novels, several poems (many of which are terrible), numerous essays, one random index card with a great idea, a notebook of not-so-great ideas, and a handful of false starts for a story that will never work. My finished stories were fabrications with a bit of what I wanted mixed in. For example, I gave all my main female characters a love interest because I wanted a boyfriend so badly as a teen. Along with the fiction was a…

  • General Thoughts

    Water leaks, house fires, and broken plans

    Big plans turned to broken plans I had big plans for the second half of 2022. But, you know what they say about plans… Our home renovations were finally finished (my bathroom and kitchen), I was making good progress on my 5th novel with plans to finish the first draft by the end of the year. That’s not going to happen because life happened and it happened big. Change of plans: the water leak (part one) Right after the kitchen renovation was finally finished around mid-June, I discovered a dark spot on the baseboard in my laundry room and my heart just sank. The water valve behind the refrigerator had…

  • Be thankful graphic with leaves
    Essays,  General Thoughts

    That for which I am thankful

    Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes If someone had told me a year ago the changes I would face in 2021, I’m not sure I would have believed them. This time last year, I was hopeful for an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, thankful for my family and friends, grateful for a job I loved and was able to keep while working from home to help stop the spread of the virus, missing my best Buddy, and preparing to publish my 4th novel. In some ways, beginning the final month or so of 2021 feels like a repeat of 2020. I’ve jokingly referred to 2021 as 2020: Part II several times throughout the year because,…