Background

The North Carolina House Mon 16 January 2023
Back West for Winter Sat 12 November 2022
East Coast “Home” Sat 04 September 2021
2021 Eastbound — Boom Sun 22 August 2021
Third Leg of 2021 Westbound Sat 31 July 2021
Second Leg of the 2021 Westbound Trip Sat 17 July 2021
Back on-line 2021 Westbound Sun 11 July 2021
FindMeSpot Wed 07 July 2021
The First Leg the 2021 Westbound Trip Mon 05 July 2021
The 2021 Crossings Mon 14 June 2021
The 2020 Journey — Part II Sun 05 July 2020
The 2020 Journey — Part I Fri 03 July 2020
Almost Ready Mon 29 June 2020
Once Isn’t Enough Sat 27 June 2020
The Return Sun 26 May 2019
The Initiation: Road of Trials to the Ultimate Boon Tue 21 May 2019
Prepared for Departure Sat 18 May 2019
A Kind of Hero’s Journey Sun 12 May 2019

Bio

The North Carolina House Mon 16 January 2023
Back West for Winter Sat 12 November 2022
East Coast “Home” Sat 04 September 2021
2021 Eastbound — Boom Sun 22 August 2021
Third Leg of 2021 Westbound Sat 31 July 2021
Second Leg of the 2021 Westbound Trip Sat 17 July 2021
Back on-line 2021 Westbound Sun 11 July 2021
FindMeSpot Wed 07 July 2021
The First Leg the 2021 Westbound Trip Mon 05 July 2021
The 2021 Crossings Mon 14 June 2021
The 2020 Journey — Part II Sun 05 July 2020
The 2020 Journey — Part I Fri 03 July 2020
Almost Ready Mon 29 June 2020
Once Isn’t Enough Sat 27 June 2020
The Return Sun 26 May 2019
The Initiation: Road of Trials to the Ultimate Boon Tue 21 May 2019
Prepared for Departure Sat 18 May 2019
A Kind of Hero’s Journey Sun 12 May 2019

Board

Game Essentials Fri 11 July 2025
Cribbage Boards Thu 10 July 2025

HerosJourney

Hero's Journey Revisited Tue 22 August 2023
Some Real Work Mon 12 September 2022
Focused Writing Sun 05 June 2022
Subsequent Drafts — Lesson Learned Thu 13 August 2020
Gut-Wrenching Tue 22 October 2019
Structure Sun 01 September 2019
Going Nowhere Sun 18 August 2019
MC Parallels Wed 19 June 2019
I Don’t Want to Eat My Broccoli Fri 14 June 2019
Reveals and Anticipation Sat 08 June 2019
Today's Dark Place [Updated] Sun 19 May 2019
Complications [updated] Sun 12 May 2019
Found My Missing Map and — Who’s That? Sun 28 April 2019
Drat — Wrong Computer Sat 27 April 2019
More Character Conflicts — Where Are Their Boundaries? Sat 30 March 2019
Book V — A Glimpse Wed 27 March 2019
The Red Knight’s Marginal Victories Tue 01 January 2019
Volition, Compulsion, and the Vast Space In Between Fri 21 December 2018
Scope of Action Sat 15 December 2018
The Map Fri 14 December 2018
Minor Bad Guy Conundrum Sun 02 December 2018
Outlining vs. an Alternative Sun 25 November 2018
What a Mistake Wed 06 June 2018
Cover Art and High Concepts Fri 25 May 2018
The Damaged Hero Sat 07 April 2018
Approaches to World-Building Thu 22 February 2018
Chop That Out, Too Thu 08 February 2018
Personification Mon 25 December 2017
Over-Engineering Sat 16 December 2017
Ouch. That was an ill-conceived mess Sat 09 December 2017
The Debut Novel Problem Sun 03 December 2017
Second Edition Mon 06 November 2017
The Dungeon Issue Mon 02 October 2017
Hero’s Journey Wed 06 September 2017
Vacation Writing Tue 15 August 2017
Outlines and Tyranny Tue 08 August 2017

Inspiration

Querying the Series Thu 07 November 2024
Let's Try This Again Mon 02 September 2024
The Lure of Fiction Tue 09 April 2024
A Sample Scene Sun 11 February 2024
Game Tools Fri 26 January 2024
More McGuffin Ideas Mon 22 January 2024
Sidebar Project Sun 12 February 2023
NaNoWriMo Wed 02 November 2022
Another Tack Sat 15 October 2022
Some Real Work Mon 12 September 2022
The One-Page Novel Beat Sheet Thu 02 June 2022
Character Design, Revised Sun 16 January 2022
Inspiration Thu 06 January 2022
Violence, Consequences, and Retribution Sat 26 June 2021
The Road Calls Tue 08 June 2021
Horror Wed 14 October 2020
Geology Mon 10 February 2020
Saving Some Notes Sat 01 February 2020
Voice Sat 09 November 2019
Gut-Wrenching Tue 22 October 2019
Pitch Writing — A One-Two Punch Tue 08 October 2019
Drama and Character Arc Tue 24 September 2019
Structure Sun 01 September 2019
Character Design Sat 24 August 2019
Points of View Sun 30 June 2019
MC Parallels Wed 19 June 2019
Reveals and Anticipation Sat 08 June 2019
Empires and Kingdoms Sat 01 June 2019
Roget’s Thesaurus: a Taxonomy of Concepts Sat 20 April 2019
More Character Conflicts — Where Are Their Boundaries? Sat 30 March 2019
Book V — A Glimpse Wed 27 March 2019
Five Movies Sun 24 March 2019
Timeline vs. Flashbacks Wed 27 February 2019
Two Sentences Fri 22 February 2019
Opening Action Mon 28 January 2019
Advice Sat 19 January 2019
The Red Knight’s Marginal Victories Tue 01 January 2019
Volition, Compulsion, and the Vast Space In Between Fri 21 December 2018
Scope of Action Sat 15 December 2018
The Map Fri 14 December 2018
Minor Bad Guy Conundrum Sun 02 December 2018
The Trailer View Mon 12 November 2018
Grimdark Fri 02 November 2018
Verbal Tics Sun 21 October 2018
How to Tell You’re In A Novel Wed 29 August 2018
An Improvement Sun 22 July 2018
A mcGuffin Epiphany Thu 12 July 2018
Cover Art and High Concepts Fri 25 May 2018
A Sad/Happy Thought Thu 19 April 2018
The Damaged Hero Sat 07 April 2018
World History, Part II Fri 23 March 2018
World History, Part I Fri 23 March 2018
Inspired By Sun 18 March 2018
What’s at Stake? Sat 10 March 2018
Approaches to World-Building Thu 22 February 2018
Drake and McTrowell Tue 20 February 2018
And then the murders began Sun 28 January 2018
Randomness and Inspiration Wed 17 January 2018
Backstory Mon 15 January 2018
Personification Mon 25 December 2017
Gritty and Detailed Fri 24 November 2017
Character Details Fri 10 November 2017
Dreaming of my Characters Sat 16 September 2017
Hero’s Journey Wed 06 September 2017
Waking Up In The Middle Of The Night Thu 17 August 2017

Maps

Empires and Kingdoms Sat 01 June 2019
The Map Fri 14 December 2018
Approaches to World-Building Thu 22 February 2018
The Dungeon Issue Mon 02 October 2017

Marketing

Upgraded Web Pages Thu 03 March 2022
An Important Lesson Wed 02 September 2020
Subsequent Drafts — Lesson Learned Thu 13 August 2020
Saving Some Notes Sat 01 February 2020
Word Count Sat 21 December 2019
More Querying Tue 24 September 2019
Digesting More Query Letter Advice Sat 31 August 2019
Additional Critical Reading Thoughts Sun 04 August 2019
Critical Reading Thu 01 August 2019
Critiques and Beta Readers Mon 15 July 2019
The Size Problem Sun 02 June 2019
Complications [updated] Sun 12 May 2019
The ABC’s of Querying Sun 14 April 2019
More Pitch-Writing Practice Sat 13 April 2019
Pitch-Writing Practice, part II Fri 12 April 2019
Querying and Pitch-Writing Practice Tue 09 April 2019
Query Shark Wed 09 January 2019
Querying Thu 22 November 2018
Best Rejection So Far Sun 05 August 2018
Drake and McTrowell Tue 20 February 2018
The Agent Search Sun 21 January 2018
The Debut Novel Problem Sun 03 December 2017
Social Media Mon 16 October 2017

NonFiction

Let's Try This Again Mon 02 September 2024
The Lure of Fiction Tue 09 April 2024
Game Tools Fri 26 January 2024
More McGuffin Ideas Mon 22 January 2024
NaNoWriMo Wed 02 November 2022
Another Tack Sat 15 October 2022
Taxing Work Sat 30 July 2022
The One-Page Novel Beat Sheet Thu 02 June 2022
Upgraded Web Pages Thu 03 March 2022
Speculative and Bespoke Work Mon 06 December 2021
Violence, Consequences, and Retribution Sat 26 June 2021
The Verb Form of “Nomad" Thu 20 May 2021
Ending One Job — Focusing On The Other Fri 09 April 2021
The Time Crunch Fri 26 March 2021
Non-Fiction Progress (Feb) Tue 23 February 2021
Co-Author Big Sigh Tue 05 January 2021
Non-Fiction Progress (Dec) Sat 05 December 2020
Scrivener and Word Count Target Wed 21 October 2020
Horror Wed 14 October 2020
Aspirations Thu 24 September 2020
Subsequent Drafts — Lesson Learned Thu 13 August 2020
Home Again Tue 28 July 2020
That Got Complicated Sat 27 June 2020
Second Editions Sun 19 April 2020
COVID-19 Sun 22 March 2020
Saving Some Notes Sat 01 February 2020
Word Count Sat 21 December 2019
Not Stalled — Exactly Mon 16 December 2019
Voice Sat 09 November 2019
Gut-Wrenching Tue 22 October 2019
More Querying Tue 24 September 2019
Digesting More Query Letter Advice Sat 31 August 2019
Editing and Beta Readers Mon 19 August 2019
Additional Critical Reading Thoughts Sun 04 August 2019
Critiques and Beta Readers Mon 15 July 2019
Thoughts on Some Writing Strategies Sat 22 June 2019
Work Time Thu 20 June 2019
I Don’t Want to Eat My Broccoli Fri 14 June 2019
Pitch-Writing Practice, part II Fri 12 April 2019
More Character Conflicts — Where Are Their Boundaries? Sat 30 March 2019
Book V — A Glimpse Wed 27 March 2019
Two Sentences Fri 22 February 2019
Query Shark Wed 09 January 2019
Moving Forward Tue 11 December 2018
Verbal Tics Sun 21 October 2018
Pressure Sat 13 October 2018
Dropping the F-Bomb Sat 06 October 2018
Non-Fiction Interruption Fri 14 September 2018
Best Rejection So Far Sun 05 August 2018
A Sad/Happy Thought Thu 19 April 2018
Pre-Final Drafts Thu 05 April 2018
World History, Part I Fri 23 March 2018
Inspired By Sun 18 March 2018
What’s at Stake? Sat 10 March 2018
Drake and McTrowell Tue 20 February 2018
And then the murders began Sun 28 January 2018
Time, Focus, Intention, Love Sat 13 January 2018
Gritty, Detailed, Immersive Thu 21 December 2017
The Debut Novel Problem Sun 03 December 2017
Second Edition Mon 06 November 2017
Social Media Mon 16 October 2017
Distractions and Coffee Shops Sat 07 October 2017
Hero’s Journey Wed 06 September 2017
Vacation Writing Tue 15 August 2017
Marketing Fri 11 August 2017
The Luxury of Time Tue 08 August 2017
Outlines and Tyranny Tue 08 August 2017

Notes

Some Notes and Links Mon 27 April 2026

Overview

Cribbage Wed 09 July 2025

Play

Heart-Stopping Sun 03 August 2025
Impossible Decisions Mon 28 July 2025
Scoring in Play Sat 12 July 2025

Process

Querying the Series Thu 07 November 2024
Let's Try This Again Mon 02 September 2024
The Lure of Fiction Tue 09 April 2024
Game Tools Fri 26 January 2024
Changing Blog Tools Thu 25 January 2024
More McGuffin Ideas Mon 22 January 2024
Logline Help Tue 29 August 2023
Hero's Journey Revisited Tue 22 August 2023
Boss Bottle Mon 29 May 2023
Remote Writing Mon 08 May 2023
Working and Traveling Mon 08 May 2023
The Veil Thu 01 December 2022
Beat, Scene, Chapter Wed 16 November 2022
NaNoWriMo Wed 02 November 2022
Another Tack Sat 15 October 2022
Some Real Work Mon 12 September 2022
Outlines and Details Tue 16 August 2022
Taxing Work Sat 30 July 2022
Focused Writing Sun 05 June 2022
Speculative and Bespoke Work Mon 06 December 2021
Moving Day Sun 13 June 2021
The Road Calls Tue 08 June 2021
Travel writing and the Daring Enterprise Fri 21 May 2021
The Verb Form of “Nomad" Thu 20 May 2021
Trying to “explain” retirement Mon 10 May 2021
The tyranny of “desk toys” Mon 12 April 2021
Ending One Job — Focusing On The Other Fri 09 April 2021
The Time Crunch Fri 26 March 2021
Non-Fiction Progress (Feb) Tue 23 February 2021
Co-Author Big Sigh Tue 05 January 2021
Non-Fiction Progress (Dec) Sat 05 December 2020
Scrivener and Word Count Target Wed 21 October 2020
Aspirations Thu 24 September 2020
Restructuring Sun 06 September 2020
An Important Lesson Wed 02 September 2020
Subsequent Drafts — Lesson Learned Thu 13 August 2020
The Ancillary Texts Sat 08 August 2020
Home Again Tue 28 July 2020
That Got Complicated Sat 27 June 2020
Second Editions Sun 19 April 2020
COVID-19 Sun 22 March 2020
Word Count Sat 21 December 2019
Not Stalled — Exactly Mon 16 December 2019
Editing and Beta Readers Mon 19 August 2019
Going Nowhere Sun 18 August 2019
Foreshadowing Sat 27 July 2019
Thoughts on Some Writing Strategies Sat 22 June 2019
Work Time Thu 20 June 2019
I Don’t Want to Eat My Broccoli Fri 14 June 2019
Today's Dark Place [Updated] Sun 19 May 2019
Found My Missing Map and — Who’s That? Sun 28 April 2019
Drat — Wrong Computer Sat 27 April 2019
The Red Knight’s Marginal Victories Tue 01 January 2019
Leap — No, Wait — Leap — Reconsider — Leap Mon 24 December 2018
Moving Forward Tue 11 December 2018
Outlining vs. an Alternative Sun 25 November 2018
Pressure Sat 13 October 2018
Dropping the F-Bomb Sat 06 October 2018
Non-Fiction Interruption Fri 14 September 2018
Second Stand-Alone Story Fri 29 June 2018
What a Mistake Wed 06 June 2018
Another List of Rewrites Sat 05 May 2018
A Sad/Happy Thought Thu 19 April 2018
Pre-Final Drafts Thu 05 April 2018
Chop That Out, Too Thu 08 February 2018
Time, Focus, Intention, Love Sat 13 January 2018
Ouch. That was an ill-conceived mess Sat 09 December 2017
Gritty and Detailed Fri 24 November 2017
Second Edition Mon 06 November 2017
Revisions and Rethinking Tue 24 October 2017
Distractions and Coffee Shops Sat 07 October 2017
Drafts and Read-Aloud Wed 13 September 2017
Step Away From The Keyboard Mon 28 August 2017
Vacation Writing Tue 15 August 2017
The Luxury of Time Tue 08 August 2017
Outlines and Tyranny Tue 08 August 2017

Querying

Querying the Series Thu 07 November 2024
More Querying Tue 24 September 2019
Digesting More Query Letter Advice Sat 31 August 2019
The ABC’s of Querying Sun 14 April 2019
More Pitch-Writing Practice Sat 13 April 2019
Pitch-Writing Practice, part II Fri 12 April 2019
Querying and Pitch-Writing Practice Tue 09 April 2019
Query Shark Wed 09 January 2019
Querying Thu 22 November 2018
Best Rejection So Far Sun 05 August 2018
The Agent Search Sun 21 January 2018
The Debut Novel Problem Sun 03 December 2017
Marketing Fri 11 August 2017

Strategy

Heart-Stopping Sun 03 August 2025
Impossible Decisions Mon 28 July 2025

Tales

The Quest Fri 26 May 2023
Working and Traveling Mon 08 May 2023

tech_choices

Remote Writing Update Fri 10 May 2024

Technomad

Remote Writing Update Fri 10 May 2024
More Technomad Travels Tue 02 April 2024

Tools

Some Writing Tools Mon 01 September 2025
Game Tools Fri 26 January 2024
Changing Blog Tools Thu 25 January 2024
Logline Help Tue 29 August 2023
Hero's Journey Revisited Tue 22 August 2023
Boss Bottle Mon 29 May 2023
Remote Writing Mon 08 May 2023
Working and Traveling Mon 08 May 2023
Outlines and Details Tue 16 August 2022
The One-Page Novel Beat Sheet Thu 02 June 2022
Upgraded Web Pages Thu 03 March 2022
Scrivener and Word Count Target Wed 21 October 2020
Character Design Sat 24 August 2019
Going Nowhere Sun 18 August 2019
World-Building Nuance — Coinage of the Realm Thu 04 July 2019
Empires and Kingdoms Sat 01 June 2019
Found My Missing Map and — Who’s That? Sun 28 April 2019
Drat — Wrong Computer Sat 27 April 2019
Roget’s Thesaurus: a Taxonomy of Concepts Sat 20 April 2019
The Map Fri 14 December 2018
World History, Part II Fri 23 March 2018
World History, Part I Fri 23 March 2018
Approaches to World-Building Thu 22 February 2018
Randomness and Inspiration Wed 17 January 2018
Over-Engineering Sat 16 December 2017
The Dungeon Issue Mon 02 October 2017
Tools and Outlines Mon 25 September 2017

World-Building

Some Writing Tools Mon 01 September 2025
Geology Mon 10 February 2020
Saving Some Notes Sat 01 February 2020
World-Building Nuance — Coinage of the Realm Thu 04 July 2019
Scope of Action Sat 15 December 2018
Approaches to World-Building Thu 22 February 2018
Gritty, Detailed, Immersive Thu 21 December 2017
Over-Engineering Sat 16 December 2017
Place Names Sat 25 November 2017
One Too Many Monsters Thu 26 October 2017

Writing Sample

A Sample Scene Sun 11 February 2024