Joseph D'Agnese 10/23/26 Joseph D'Agnese 10/23/26

The Great Halloween Manhunt (and Barf)

For my Halloween-adjacent article on SleuthSayers.org this week, I am sharing a true story drawn from my childhood. It’s a story I’ve never shared before, but it perfectly sums up my state of mind as a kid. And, in keeping with the Halloween theme, it also features a desperate criminal on the loose! What more could you ask for? You can check it out…

Joseph D'Agnese 10/2/26 Joseph D'Agnese 10/2/26

My Life with Bears

I have lived in Western North Carolina for more than 21 years. At first, I never saw any black bears. Then they were everywhere I looked, including my back yard. If you’re local, you have accepted that this land we call home is not really ours. It belongs instead to every bit of Nature that traipses through it. Wild turkeys, deer, opossums, foxes…but mostly bears. I’m talking about them this week in a sizable article at SleuthSayers, the group mystery blog that I write for. I’ve wanted to write something about them for a while now. The fact that the weather is starting to cool, and the bears are packing on weight for their presumed hibernation is…

Joseph D'Agnese 9/11/26 Joseph D'Agnese 9/11/26

25 Years After 9/11

Twenty-five years ago this morning, I was standing on the roof of my apartment building in Hoboken, watching as the second of the twin towers fell across the river in Manhattan. Though I’ve recalled the day many times over the years, and even written a short story about those events, I have come to accept how much I don’t recall, how much, in fact, I did not bother to record. That’s fine for civilians, but when you’re a reporter and writer, you’re supposed to…

Joseph D'Agnese 8/21/26 Joseph D'Agnese 8/21/26

Angry Joe Writes a Letter He'll Never Send

I tend not to show my anger. It’s a blessing and a curse. When I do blow my top, it’s usually at something in the publishing industry, ensuring that the only people who ever witness it are my poor wife or fellow writers. This has earned me the nickname Angry Joe in some circles. Angry Joe reared his ugly head earlier this week when something in the local community set me off, and I felt compelled to write an email that I’ll never send. As I explain in my SleuthSayers article this week, this is in a grand tradition that includes such writers as Abraham Lincoln and Ben Franklin…

Joseph D'Agnese 7/31/26 Joseph D'Agnese 7/31/26

Lessons from Writing Three Novels at Speed

Dean Wesley Smith is an incredibly prolific writer. He writes with his cats. I write with my pooch. Dean is adept at writing into the dark at speed. In other words, he does not outline his work before writing and sets for himself some remarkable word—count challenges. In a book of his I recently read, Writing With the Waltese Falcon, he shows us how he wrote three books—one in ten days, one in seven, and one in five while traveling on vacation. That’s incredible. In a column I share on SleuthSayers, the mystery blog, this week, I do a quick overview of the book and then share the story of my one and only experiment writing at speed. I’ve shared that story on this blog a few years ago.

Joseph D'Agnese 7/10/26 Joseph D'Agnese 7/10/26

Kids of the Bicentennial, Authors of the Semiquincentennial

I’ve been on the road with my wife Denise Kiernan as she visits bookstores and promotes her new book, Obstinate Daughters, about the women behind the American Revolution. The experience of being on the road together to sell copies of a RevWar book brought back a ton of memories—going as far back as childhood. “I have been here before, and before, and before,” is all I keep thinking. Why? In 1976…

Joseph D'Agnese 6/19/26 Joseph D'Agnese 6/19/26

How to Write with Passion: Lessons from Brenda Ueland’s Classic

There’s a book about writing that I re-read every year. It does not teach whole lot of craft. But it does speak to the heart. It will probably speak to you, if you care about writing. It’s a classic book written by Brenda Ueland called If You Want to Write (affiliate link). I cannot remember how or when I first learned about it, but my wife and I bought a paperback copy ages ago, read and enjoyed it, and have re-read it over the years and even handed out copies to fellow writers as well. It’s an inspirational book first…

Joseph D'Agnese 5/29/26 Joseph D'Agnese 5/29/26

Why Lifelong Learning Matters for Writers (I Am Graduating Still)

I attended a college graduation recently and got strangely emotional before the ceremony began. I started analyzing why, and I finally landed on the fact that I love learning, and haven’t stopped doing so, really, since I was a kid. I took out a notebook, started jotting down some thoughts, and before long I had the makings of an article on the topic that dips into nostalgia, yes, but also touches on a prophecy made by one of my professors way back in…

Joseph D'Agnese 4/17/26 Joseph D'Agnese 4/17/26

The Interview That Wasn't

In another week or so students all over the nation and world will start donning their gowns and mortarboards and march joyfully into arenas to collect their diplomas. A rite of passage that never gets old. Today at SleuthSayers I’m reminiscing about one of my first job interviews. It was for a job that I would have liked in the book publishing world. I didn’t do many book publishing interviews when I was fresh out of school. I was so focused on landing a job at a magazine, since that was the focus of my college study. But this job—which I didn’t get—would have been special. It was the only one that…

Joseph D'Agnese 3/27/26 Joseph D'Agnese 3/27/26

The Glory Days of Pulp Fiction

The glory days of pulp fiction were the 1920s to 1940s, when newsprint magazines filled with thrilling stories were available by the dozens or even hundreds at dirt-cheap prices. For as little as a nickel or dime readers snapped up copies filled with tons of genre tales. The writers who cranked out copy for these magazines were paid as little as a third of a cent a word to four cents a word. Those days are long gone. In the mystery field, there are far fewer ways to get paid as a writer. Hilariously, though, the top two magazines in the mystery genre today pay a munificent 8 cents a word. When writers talk about the days of the pulps, it’s often with reverence, as if writers back then had great opportunities that have since dried up…

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