on October 16, 2023
As much as I love reading and writing novels, I also love reading and writing a good short story. My latest short story X Marks the Spot comes out in two weeks, in the Paper Lantern Writers Beneath a Midwinter Moon anthology. The whole anthology is a jewel, but I’m really partial to my story,… Read More
on October 13, 2023
Celebrate Friday the 13th with my new Paper Lantern Writers List List—THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT! From puppetry to sports competitions to parades to live theater, we all have our favorite entertainments. In this post I capture some of the historic entertainments that made people laugh, cry, sigh, and sweat through the years. Did your favorite entertainment make… Read More
on October 8, 2023
Even if you’ve never heard the famous rhyme about Lizzie Borden, I’m sure you’ve heard about her. Lizzie Borden, c. 1890 In August 1892, Lizzie’s father and stepmother were brutally murdered in their house in Fall River, Massachusetts. The size and shape of the bloody chop marks on the bodies suggested that a… Read More
on June 9, 2023
Happy June 9th, International Archives Day! In the spirit of Fifty Fabulous Online Library Historical Collections, Sixty Sensational Online Historical Archive Collections, and 74 Superlative Online Historical College Collections, I’m celebrating the holiday by sharing Eighty Excellent Online Historical Collections over on the Paper Lantern Writers blog. Enjoy! Eighty Excellent Online Historical Collections
on May 30, 2023
Today on the Paper Lantern Writers blog I’m sharing some of my favorite quotes about writing, starting with this treasure from botanist George Washington Carver: “Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough.” Want more writing wisdom? Check out Goal-Conflict-Disaster. Reaction-Dilemma-Decision. Repeat-Repeat-Repeat
on November 7, 2022
At some moment in my almost thirty-year career in high tech, I came up with a list of reasons “why I would ever quit this job”. The list is short: I’ll quit if my manager starts micro-managing me. I’ll quit if my manager starts jerking me around. And even though I’m not employed by Twitter,… Read More
on October 14, 2022
WRITERS! Here’s my super secret list of reviewers for your historical fiction.
on November 15, 2021
If you’ve made it here from the SHINE Facebook Group, WELCOME! You not only get a view of my desk (actually a dining table from Pottery Barn), but you get to see my late, great, beloved Belgian Sheepdog Traveller. He was not always an under-the-table kind of dog, but as he got older, he liked… Read More
on November 2, 2021
Not for nothing (another way of saying “My Work-in-Progress takes place in 1919 San Francisco”, I’ve done a lot of research about WWI-ish American women’s lingerie. To keep my research together, I’m collecting together some of these newspaper advertisements today. First, I like to know how much everything costs. Don’t you? And then, I… Read More
on October 26, 2021
Coroner or Medical Examiner, do you know which “death professional” your city has? It’s a big thing, when you’re writing crime fiction, to make sure that you have the facts straight: does your story setting have a Coroner or a Medical Examiner? Because they do different things, these guys. It’s also important to know when… Read More