Happy to report that ONE FOR THE ARK was named a finalist in the International Book Awards for General Fiction, sponsored by the American Book Fest.  I enter contests in hopes that an agent/major publisher will notice, and to be able to offer this kind of “endorsement” to my indie-published works. I lose more than...Read More

            Happy to report that my new novel, HARMONY”S PEACE & JOY, was named a finalist for the William Wisdom/William Faulkner Prize for an Unpublished Novel.  Didn’t quite make the short list, but still nice to have this encouragement for a manuscript which I’m been working on for a couple of...Read More

Pleased to announce that two of my submissions were finalists in the William Wisdom William Faulkner Writing Competition sponsored by Pirates Alley Faulkner Society, New Orleans.  HARMONY’S PEACE & JOY, my current novel-in-progress, was a finalist in that category, and  my historical novel, FREE LOVE, was a finalist in the unpublished novel category.  My short...Read More

Sir Walter Scott once said, “I care not who knows it–I write for the general amusement.”  Which must be how many of the Olympians feel this week, knowing they are not on pace for a World Record but they will have fun–in the pool, on the track, on the beach, on the course.  Even Katie...Read More

Happy to announce that my story, “When Walls Weep,” which was one of two finalists for The Editors’ Prize, has now been published in The Florida Review, Vol 39, No.1( and 2, (2015), p. 65/  The story is excerpted, in part, from my forthcoming novel, One for the Ark, to be published by Ampersand in...Read More

Colum McCann’s Letter to a Young Writer resonates with this old writer as well.  Wish I’d written it.  It’s pretty short, each sentence a meditation.  I guarantee you’ll be inspired if you follow the link!Read More

If you like mysteries,  and especially if you like baseball, my friend Bill Kennedy (G.W.) is a wonderful writer! DEAD ARM, his newest, is just out!  Bill and I are both students of Fred Shafer, the best literary coach in Chicago, as far as I’m concerned. Dead Arm As a favor to a faculty colleague,...Read More

At the Chicago Writers Conference last weekend, author and teacher Eric Charles May gave a talk about causality in fiction.  He said that we all tolerate accidents in real life, and while we may ask “Why?” or “Why me?” at various crises in our lives, we inevitably must accept that at times there are no...Read More

June 27, 2014 For two years now, we’ve been writing about crafting your first novel and I have insisted that you don’t need to know your whole story in order to begin.  This has worked for me through the process of writing a dozen novels, but recently I heard Colm Tóibín (Brooklyn, The Testament of...Read More