The Night Before the Night Before Christmas

’Twas the night before the night before Christmas, And all through this writer’s head, Not a bad thought was stirring, not even dread. The writer was thankful, most of all for Alexas, And his many readers and fans, from London to Texas. Thankful, too, for advance readers Hillary and Tony, Upon whom he could always … Read more

To All So-Called Authors: Stop Doing This; You Look Like Idiots

Maybe I shouldn’t be giving away my writing secrets. Maybe I should be like Ernest Hemingway, who, with the exception of a couple of Paris Review interviews in which he gave cryptic answers to questions about writing craft, was selfish with his knowledge throughout his life and shared very little of it. But there’s something that … Read more

One of the Best Indie Books of 2013—THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND

IndieReader, the trusted and informative web-zine about all things indie publishing, has included my book of short stories, The Man, The Myth, The Legend, on their list of the Best Indie Books of 2013. (Mine is near the end.) Back in July, IndieReader (IR) gave the collection a 5-star review and the distinction of being one of their … Read more

Crossing the Rubicon: Replying to a Rejection from a Literary Journal

Today I did the unthinkable. In the literary world, what I did is tantamount to crossing the Rubicon. It’s something that, in 20 years of submitting my work to literary journals, I have never done before: I replied to a rejection letter. Actually, I replied to a rejection email (times have changed), but the substance of … Read more