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I’ve been rereading a favorite book about writing, Stephen King’s On Writing, and it’s even better twenty years after the first read. Because when I began penning fiction, I learned for myself how the characters really do take over once the writing begins. With minds of their own and definitive ideas about what happens next. […]

The best advice on mechanics of writing I’ve received to date came from Mary Robinette, award-winning author, puppeteer and narrator. It was: Get in and out of scenes quickly. Meaning enter late, and leave early. Robinette was actually discussing movie screenplays, but it struck me as a brilliant technique to apply to novels. Although I

Let’s talk about the “right to bear arms,” as opposed to a right to bare arms, which is more about whether one feels buff enough to go sleeveless. Let’s face it, not all men are Arnold, and not all women are Michelle Obama (best bare arms ever). So, not everyone should bare their arms, nor

To swear or not to swear in novels? Like the saucy protagonist Rowan Layne in my Other Worldly series, I swear on occasion—when the occasion calls for it. I also declare. And lament. And even quote a Supreme Court case or two on the subject. My particular favorite has always been, “One man’s vulgarity is

There’s an overused expression, especially on the show The Bachelorette: “I’m not gonna lie.” But today I will use it too. Because on this day I turn the big 6-0 and, I’m not gonna lie, it’s been throwing me for a loop as swirly as the horns on my Aries zodiac sign, the ram. No,

When I first began drafting Alienable Rights in September 2017, I was awaiting Nevada Bar exam results, and it was a cathartic way to escape personal tribulations of life—and a world in utter turmoil when it came to human rights or decency. I’d decided to pursue a traditional publishing route with a literary agent—the whole

As a writer, it would be disingenuous to proclaim my words on a page or in this blog are solely possible by my ingenuity and grit (and the First Amendment). We’d all like to think the brilliance, the magic, comes to life by mere pen scrabbles, or keystrokes of inspiration. But like an award acceptance

I used to think how bad it was that so many Americans didn’t understand all that the First Amendment entails, or how it works in terms of freedom of speech. Now I also lament the appalling number of elected members of Congress who are bereft of a clue and preeningly proud of it, if their

You’re deep into drafting a chapter and suddenly you need to fact-check a place, person or thing. You quickly Google it on your phone, which leads to another click, another image or word or concept. And this somehow all weaves together in a surprising symmetry that’s downright uncanny—to use a favorite word of my protagonist,

We probably all know someone like this. The guy who won’t wear a mask during this COVID crisis due to his personal freedom that shall not be infringed. And perhaps we lament that we had no idea he had such toxic self-absorption pulsing through his veins, and his psyche, back when we were supposedly friends