I’m over at SleuthSayers, the mystery blog, today, talking how dogs and humans came to be pals, and other amazing facts about canine noses. I don’t think you’ll want to miss it if you are a dog lover.

The post is called…

Next year is the 250th anniversary of the United States, which means it is necessarily also the 250th birthday of the Declaration of Independence. I know a lot about that document, thanks to the research I did several years ago to write a book about the signers of that hallowed document. Today, I’m talking about a lesser-known individual associated with the Declaration—Timothy Matlack—the man who actually hand-wrote the document that all the Congressmen signed…

As long as it’s July, seems a great time to remind devoted readers that they now have three—count ‘em—three Christmas books from me to read. They are…

I hope you have a beautiful Fourth of July weekend, wherever you live and however you intend to celebrate the 249th Birthday of the United States of America. We have a lot of things planned for this long weekend, most of it involving work in the garden. By this time of year, everything is growing wildly and needs to be harvested or weeded. My job every year is picking the blueberries and preserving them in such a way that we can make copious jars of jam later in the season…

For a guy who is not a designer, I sure am obsessed with fonts. I have been since the late eighties, when a designer I worked with at Scholastic enjoyed pointing out how much choosing the right typeface could immediately alter or enhance an article I was preparing for publication.

I go font shopping from time to time to help me nail the look of a particular project Denise and I are working on on the side.

My go-to websites are myfonts and Fontspring, but I have been known to buy direct, which is how I came across the work of Brian Wilson, a typeface designer and novelist who is renowned…

Just to continue this thought while it’s still in my head: We loved writing The Indiana Jones Handbook. It allowed us to reconnect with the three films—the first three that were out at the time we were preparing the MS—and geek out on all the little details of them. At the time, we were living in a small rental apartment here in North Carolina, and we blew a week watching and rewatching the films, and taking notes. Totally a blast to do that kind of research.

Then it shifted to actual research, trying to figure out where the reality of the outside world of science and history collided with the fantasy world of the films…

We’ve been doing some decluttering, and boy does the TV room need it. We collect a lot of stuff. But the one feature of that room that looks great is the shelf where we keep tiki mugs and other odd items from different nations. This is one spot where the clutter actually works. Why? Because the items are all congregated under this fantastic map of the Indiana Jones universe, created by artist Matt Busch…

The photo above depicts a writer, hiding from the world. The sort of writer who wants their literary agent to “take care of them.” To see to the business side of things so they, the writer, can “just write.” The sort of writer, in other words, who makes me want to frow up.

One of the small things an empowered writer can do to take back the night is to stop putting their agent’s name on their website. It makes sense if you’re a name writer, and it makes sense in certain other situations, but in general, a newbie or mid-list author would be better served keeping intel to themselves.

Here’s why…

Every year I put together a questionnaire that we send out to organizations that inquire about having one of us come speak. (My wife gets the majority of those requests.)

I’m planning a future article for writers on this very topic, and realized that it would be hand to make the questionnaire available.

Here’s how to get it…

The key to lasting success in this business is multiple income streams. One of those streams can be licensing for film adaptations.

The topic came up recently on one of the writer boards I subscribe to. Hearing short story writers talk about film adaptations and film money reminded me how much I’ve learned about the topic over the years, witnessing the licensing conversations about the work of Denise and my ghostwriting clients.

I dug through my files, did some research, and put together an article discussing this topic. If you’re a writer who has written even a single book or short story, you will want to read this…