Category: Ruminating

  • Snowbound

    Memories of living through cold New England winters and blustery Nor’easters helped to create the latest Sean Colbeth mystery.

  • What’s Behind My Titles?

    It’s an interesting process I go through finding a title for a novel that fits both the story and the underlying theme of the work.

  • Getting Closer

    I’m down to putting the finishing touches on the X-Ray for Peril. It’s usually the final step before the Kindle version goes live; the paperback and hardcover editions are already put to bed, slumbering until the date they awake and begin to ship. In some ways, it’s my favorite step — one last chance to…

  • Rain

    Rain

    We’re just beginning what we call the monsoon season here in Arizona; a few months of afternoon and evening thunderstorms that light up the sky and give our plants a much needed drink of water. Having grown up on the East Coast, I still find it remarkable how many days of sunshine we experience, which…

  • Weather

    I’ve started work on my latest novel, and the initial chapter opens in the middle of a rainstorm. My poor main character – in this case, one Vasily Korsokovach – is in no way prepared for the deluge and finds himself grumbling about Mother Nature while he attempts to gather clues. Writing that sequence brought…

  • Seasonality

    We had a bout of weather here in Arizona this past weekend; since it’s so unusual for us to experience gray, overcast days, when it happens, we tend to pause and relish the change in our otherwise normal routine of endless blue skies full of bright sunshine. This particular storm brought snow to the mountains…

  • Working Ahead

    I’ve been alternating between the final edits on the second book in the Sean Colbeth series, Outsider, and the latest book which, surprisingly, will be the fifth. It’s a bit hard to believe I’ve put as much down on virtual paper as I have, but I suppose in retrospect, it’s one of the few bright…

  • Brand New Year

    I’m probably not alone in looking forward to turning the calendar over. This past year has been extraordinary on so many levels it’s nearly impossible to contemplate what its overall effect has been. So much has changed in such a short period of time, I do wonder as we move into the new year what…

  • Downhill

    I’ve been thinking about skiing recently. That’s a bit odd, I suppose, given where I now live here in the Desert Southwest, but also probably a bit of a hazard from writing a novel or two set back in Maine. It didn’t help that I saw snow in the mountains surrounding where I live, either,…

  • Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Wednesday makes me think of Walt Disney World and chocolate chip cookies. The former is because I was married to the love of my life on a Wednesday at Walt Disney World, the latter is because right after the ceremony, we caught the first transport we could back to the Magic Kingdom and made a…