A Tale of Two Covers
“Never judge a book by its cover.” We’ve all heard this familiar admonition, warning us that superficial first impressions may be...
"What took you so long . . . ?"
There’s an old Yiddish saying that translates to: “Man plans, and God laughs.” Boyohboy, did the Writing Gods yuck it up at my expense....
Anatomy of a scene (3 scenes, actually) . . .
I always enjoy behind-the-scenes or anatomy-of-a-scene features for movies and TV shows. Now that my new historical novel GALLOWAY’S...
Stuff I learned, part II: What famous people really said!
As noted in an earlier blog, historical fiction needs to be accurate, and feel truthful. That’s why historical novelists often anchor a...
Stuff I learned about...19th century baseball!
Until I started writing historical fiction, I had no idea research was so much fun. Some research was specific – I needed to know when it...
Soundtrack . . . in a book? The music of GALLOWAY'S GAMBLE
When I started writing my historical novel GALLOWAY’S GAMBLE, I wanted to weave music into the story. Music has been a natural part of...
Bring on the blurbs!
Blurbs: those short, enthusiastic quotes that appear on book covers. As defined by NPR journalist Colin Dwyer in a 2015 story, a blurb is...
History: real, "reel" & living
Fun thing about writing historical fiction: it’s the perfect excuse to visit historical places. My quest – time travel! (Or, at least, a...
Carefree Highways & Big Bug Creeks: Real names for fictional places
Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot long told the story of how he got the idea for his 1974 hit song "Carefree Highway" from the...
Thank goodness for Ken Burns!
65,000! That’s approximately how many books have been written about the Civil War. Not surprising, considering that it was, is and may...
