Category Archives: Uncategorized

Write because you have a story that you need to share. Write because you are funny and want to brighten people’s day with your humor. Write because you have a talent for it and to waste that talent would be a crime. Write because you have to. But don’t write because you think you’re goingContinue reading “Because You Have To!”

A reader recently asked me how I managed to write two books while holding down a full time job. I guess the short answer is, if you saw how long it took between books you’d know that they didn’t come quickly. But I’m persistent. And that’s pretty much it. The best advice I have gottenContinue reading “Writing while holding down a job”

Call out the National Guard! Warn the military! Planet Earth must be alerted to this menace! Where is Thor? Where is Wonder Woman? Where is Buzz Lightyear? We need a super hero who can save us from this peril! —or at least a good tree guy. The invasion begins innocently enough; one tiny plant hidingContinue reading “Creeping Vines—They’re Coming for Us!”

A reader asked me if I have a writing routine. To answer that question, I would say that my methods keep evolving as I go, but here are seven things I do: Ch 8: 2680 words 9ppS1: Gestapo visits de Jongh homeS2: Elsie and Peggy’s cold call As I said, my methods are always evolving,Continue reading “7 Practices in my Writing Routine”

I recently watched the movie ELVIS. It’s definitely worth seeing, but I came away with mixed feelings. Austin Butler, who played the lead did a terrific job portraying Elvis when he was young and just breaking into the business as well as when he was older and making a comeback. He had the moves, theContinue reading “Elvis Movie”

Many old farms contain family burial plots. But what if more than just bodies were buried among the graves? What if one of the plots was a different kind of final resting place—a grave without a body—a place that holds secrets of a former life—a life that those who buried it didn’t want to interfereContinue reading “Buried in Torben’s Fountain”

Back in 2018, I was one of about 7,200 citizen-archivists and citizen-historians who participated in an initiative to transcribe comments handwritten by military personnel about their service during World War Two. Soldiers on active duty filled out questionnaires on topics like: women and gender, race and ethnicity, recreation and welfare, ground combat, air combat andContinue reading “WWII Soldiers in Their Own Words”

It was late winter. I was looking forward to warmer weather and itching to build cedar planting boxes to expand the raised bed garden I built last year. My plan was to construct the boxes in March, set them up and fill them with soil in April, and plant vegetables in early May. In March,Continue reading “Gardens”

“All I need to know about Thomas Jefferson is that he owned slaves!” a fellow said. The past is full of social practices that may be abhorrent to us today: killing animals for their fur, bloodletting to cure disease, burning women for suspicion of witchcraft, scalping enemies, buying and selling human slaves, forced child laborContinue reading “Bikinis and Thomas Jefferson”

I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. The first time I heard that phrase, I thought it was pretty clever. After a couple hundred times, it got under my skin worse than poison ivy. It reminds me how golden age television comedians used to zing “Uncle Miltie” (aka Milton Berle, aka Continue reading “Metaphors and Uncle Miltie”