The Best Thing I Ever Wrote by Mar Preston
So far it’s the series of short eBooks on “Writing Your First Mystery.” These five eBook primers on the architecture of the mystery novel are close to the best thing I’ve written. Partly because...
Escaping Winter
I’m escaping winter in my California mountain village. So I'm looking for a furnished rental place of some kind in Ventura, California. It's not so easy because I want to bring my two cats along....
Life Without My Dog
My beloved companion dog, Lily, died a week ago now. Over last weekend, I cried so hard for her I made myself sick. That phase of grieving has passed. Most of us have lost a pet, so I can write...
Writing Without a Dog
I no longer have to look behind me before I move my writing chair, because my life companion, my dog Lily, died on Friday. Most of us with a human heart know what it is to love an animal, and the...
The Swag From A Writers Conference
A contrast in what I took home from two writers’ conferences I attended recently: the Public Safety Writers Association (PSWA) conference in July 2016 in Las Vegas; And,...
Why not give up if your books aren’t selling?
Liking a book--or not--is subjective. It may be something as simple as the setting is a place where a reader may have broken up with an old girlfriend. Your reader picks up your book and the first...
The Perseid Meteor Showers – 2016
Last night I witnessed the Perseid Meteor showers from a nearby peak in the Central California mountains. A huge, yellow half moon hung in the sky overhead and the stars were bright. Of course my...
The Fickle Crime Fiction Muse
The hard work of writing my crime fiction novels has brought me joy, some success, and even enjoyment, this setting down of dark crime fiction for others to read. But once in a while the passion...
The Writers Conference I Should Have Attended
Though it’s fast fading into the past—it happened in July 2016—I’m still thinking about this terrific group of law enforcement types, firefighters, and EMTs I met in Las Vegas. Here it is, the...
