Anyone who works in an artistic profession battles demons. It doesn’t matter if you’re a writer, painter, dancer, actor, or whatever. Rejection comes with the territory.

If you hope to survive, you develop coping mechanisms for riding the ups and downs. They can be big commitments (an annual retreat, a weekly session with a therapist) or little ones (a daily meditation practice or walk in the woods to stay grounded).

One of the ones I use requires just a single piece of note card. Until recently, I thought I got the idea out of a book. It turns out, I came up with the idea myself. But the book is still worth reading if you’re a writer.

The book is called …

I have a couple of posts coming this year on the topic of speaking engagements. Every writer is asked to get in front of an audience from time to time.

The newbie author greets these opportunities with terror and consternation, while the experienced author greets them with terror and consternation. But neither should fret. It’s actually quite easy to stand in front of an audience and make a favorable impression. All you must do is this: Speak from the heart!

It sounds like a cliche, but it works. The more centered you are, the more you know your story cold, the better you will be able to deliver it…

I went looking for advice on work-balance for writers. Hoping to get inspired, I studied the lives of writers going back to the 1930s.

Well, I shouldn’t have. Their circumstances were so different from modern life that the secrets of their success probably would not work for writers today. But their stories are still inspirational.

That’s what I’m talking about today at SleuthSayers, in an article I’m calling…

When I dumped social media in 2022, I made a public announcement here on my blog and contact page, and did a post at SleuthSayers, the mystery blog I write for, about the books and other resources that pushed me to make that important change.

Ever since then, I’ve been meaning to report how that decision has impacted my life and work.

Since I’m focusing my first few articles of the year on productivity, I thought it was a good time to let the world know how it’s going. The freaking upshot is…

I’m trying something a little different this year in my articles for SleuthSayers, the mystery blog. I will try to focus on writing articles that fit the time or season of year more appropriately. In January, my thoughts typically run to productivity and creativity, as I plan my writing projects for the coming year. I thought it might be a fun idea to analyze those two areas of thought at the top of the year. Today, I’m looking at how various people in the arts regard their creative spark. Just where does the magic reside when you’re writing a story, crafting a piece of music, making a work of visual art and more? I pull together quotes from people in a range of professions, and I swear, they all have one thing in common…

The Sherlock Holmes mysteries consist of 56 short stories and four novels. And only one of those stories takes place at Christmas time in Victorian England. It’s the famous story, “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle,” which finds Holmes and Watson chasing a jewel thief in London who has stuffed his prize down the throat of a live Christmas goose. Yes, you heard me. A goose. First the goose is alive, then it’s not, then it’s well and truly cooked. And zaniness ensues. It’s fun story but there’s a huge gaping plot hole in the middle of it all…

Well, the folks over at SleuthSayers, the mystery blog I write for, have me contributing a post on this, the deadest reading day of the year, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when all good Americans are out spending themselves blind. Not to be outdone, I have managed to blame the entire Black Friday concept on short story writers, the very same folks who operate the SleuthSayers blog. I know, it’s wacky clickbait premise, but you can’t blame a guy for trying. My argument is based on one of the oldest American Christmas traditions…

I usually don’t talk so openly about my family’s deep background but this week at SleuthSayers I’m sharing some old photos and history about my mother’s back story growing up in Italy. I think you’ll find it interesting. She grew up in a small Italian village, and that experience of wartime living affected her for the rest of her life

That’s the subject of my article, which I’m calling…

We’ve been lucky to escape many natural disasters despite living in the American South for 20 years. But all good things must pass. We arrived home after a short book event weekend a few weeks ago to discover how badly our home and city has been ravaged by the after-effects of Hurricane Helene. Parts of the city is underwater. Our home is still standing but buried under giant trees. Many businesses we have come to love and adore are devastated.

I usually talk about writerly stuff at SleuthSayers, the mystery blog, but this week I naturally felt compelled to share my eyewitness report of what we’ve experience on the ground here in Asheville, North Carolina…

As a gentleman of a certain age, I suppose I am shocked that Steven Spielberg’s film Jaws is fast approaching its 50th Anniversary. It’s not a film I saw as a kid. (I was 10 when the film debuted at the drive-ins of my youth.) But as an adult, I’ve not only watched it numerous times, I actually love it as a great film and a great piece of storytelling. Recently, when my wife returned a trip with a girlfriend to Martha’s Vineyard, where the film was shot, she brought back some Jaws swag for me that sent me down a rabbit hole of nostalgia and research…