I am preparing for two important events in my life.

First, I am the ‘panel’ for an afternoon discussion on blogging at SleuthFest; second, is the release of my book, Chasin’ the Wind, on March 19, and I have begun to set up readings and signings. Both are exciting and new experiences, to me.

I am going to SleuthFest 2008, a Mystery Writers of America – Florida Chapter annual event held at the Deerfield Beach Hilton, in Deerfield Beach, Florida, Feb. 29 –…

One of my favorite blogs is Declan Burke’s www.crimealwayspays.blogspot.com. As if there are not enough American mystery writers, my library is now beginning to hold Irish mystery writers, because of Declan.

Irish writer Adrian McKinty now lives in Colorado and even taught at one of the state’s universities. He has an interesting guest blog on crimealwayspays that deals with James Elroy’s work.

McKinty, no slouch himself,…

Mystery and thriller writers vary in age, sex, religion, political persuasion, hair color, as well as lack of hair, and in so many areas, I’d better stop here, but you get the point. So many differences, that it is amazing we are, more often than not, quiet-living, loving people, eager to help fellow writers, who are our competitors in a field that narrows almost daily.

While most of us sit down alone and face the cold, blank page on our computer, our characters also share a trait.…

Writers’ block. What is it? And, do I have it?

I am probably within 50 pages of finishing my sequel to "Chasin’ the Wind," – Free Range Institution – and haven’t written in weeks! I have re-read the manuscript twice, making changes in it and I know where it’s going and how it ends; I know who the good-guy that turns out to be a bad-guy is. I like it and think it’s good.

I sit and stare at the screen that holds two pages of the chapter I can’t seem to finish, even though…

It’s a New Year, but I’d like to mention the last days of 2007.

Celine, Alex, and I left Key West and flew to a freezing New Jersey for my daughter Chela’s New Year’s Eve wedding. It was colder than a witch’s tit – especially for someone from Key West, where I put an electric blanket on the bed when the temperatures fall below 75!

But we braved the weather and enjoyed a week with my pregnant daughter Seanan (pronounced Shannon, but spelled in Gaelic) and her husband Paul…

My self-designated deadline for finishing the sequel to "Chasin’ the Wind" was mid September. I didn’t meet it. My grandson came in from Germany for two weeks and I got to play tourist in Key West. Two weeks and we didn’t get to see and do everything Key West offers.



My background as a journalist helps with deadlines. Sometimes I had to deal with a two-hour deadline and there weren’t any excuses. I think I recall the editor in Key West at the time, Bernie Hunt, saying…

It occurred to me, while I was preparing to send ARCs of “Chasin’ the Wind” to newspapers and other media outlets for reviews, that I am not sure people read much anymore.

As an example, Monroe County, where I live, is considering closing one or two libraries in the Middle Keys. I’ve read in the newspaper that other libraries are closing too. I also read, or hear from friends, about bookstores that are closing. I read a feature, recently, that indicated many newspapers have downsized…

It has been a month since I last posted and, while there aren’t acceptable excuses for it, I do have reasons. First, my grandson, who I haven’t seen in almost 15 years visited from Germany and that allowed me to play tourist with him. Imagine a two-week vacation in Key West!



I survived that and then it was Fantasy Fest week! If you don’t know what Fantasy Fest is, check out…

James Lincoln Warren, the mastermind behind www.criminalbrief.com, a blog on writing and the short story, that I check out daily, recently asked me to be a guest blogger for last Saturday. I was honored. The following is what I sent in and I wanted to share it with you.Please share your thoughts on the subject with me and other crimespace regulars.

My love affair with the short…

This past Saturday, Sept. 22, my friends Burt Hansen, Paul Clarin and Jim Linder, helped me move my 36-foot sailboat, Mustard Seed, to the boatyard on Stock Island. As the eagle flies, it’s about a five-mile trek; as the boat floats, it’s at least double that.



Burt and I have sailed for years. He and his wife, Nadja, have sailed all around the east coast delivering boats and he has worked at boat sales at various times in his life. He is a weathered sailor I always learn something…

There has been a lot of press recently on the release of the original scroll version of Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” manuscript.

You want to get depressed? I lost, in Hurricane George, 1998, a first edition of "On the Road." Yeah, it was beat up, but that’s because I’d read it so often and somehow kept it with me on my moves around the country. But that’s a whole other blog.

I was born after Kerouac began his journey with Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and William…

Mother Teresa’s rough face, aged with lines and colored from outdoor living, stared from the front of TIME’s Sept. 3, 2007, issue. I half expected to read she had received sainthood from Rome, but large white letters screamed "The Secret Life of Mother Teresa" and small white print whispered "Newly published letters reveal a be loved icon’s 50-year crisis with faith."

Last week, Bill Maher, host of "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO, showed off the magazine and even kissed it,…

Waiting for March ’08, when my book "Chasin’ the Wind" finally makes it into bookstores, has been frustrating. I turned in the final copy of the novel to the first editor in mid December. I would take it as personal if the publishers’ panel at SleuthFest, held in Miami in March, hadn’t discussed that it takes up 16 months from acceptance to publication.

After the New Year, I began working on a sequel, though I had no…

If you read an earlier blog, you know my friend Art, one of the managers of the Hog’s Breath Saloon, has decided to write a novel. I think his words were something like, “If you can do it, so can I!” I think he’s discovering it is not as easy as he thought.

“I read you recent blog,” Art said and bought me a Jameson on the rocks. “Insightful,” he nodded and smiled.

I knew there was more to come, so I waited and sipped my Jameson.

“Thank you, Art,” I finally…

As a writer, I read newspapers and news magazines. It’s as mandatory as writing, as far as I’m concerned. I read to stimulate ideas. I don’t always read the headline stories, but look for the short pieces that carry unusual news. You never know when something strange might kick your imagination into gear. I can read a piece from Alaska and ask myself, “what if, in Key West . . .?”

I also watch TV news, both the Miami channels and CNN. I watched, as most of the world did, in horror…

I was asked by a friend how I write when I write and for how long. A lot easier asked than answered. I have read of writers who work eight-to-10-hours a day, sometimes six-days a week, in front of the computer. Wow! If I did that, I could get a book done in three months. I am not sure how good it would be, not with my shortsighted thought process.

Like many writers, I have a job that pays the bills and then my real job, writing. So, at the end of the day I can be all juiced up…