Do you ever wonder what motivates you to do the things you do? Many of us are too busy to consider the ‘why’s’ until we’re forced to. That’s what happened to me. I was a successful trial lawyer. I tried nearly one hundred criminal cases and had developed a reputation such that my clients received better dispositions, plea bargains. I…

I have often been confounded by deep, complex issues in my life, at times losing sleep over them. One of those issues is the death penalty. After thirty years in the legal system I’ve come to a conclusion, which has generally been very useful in tackling a wide variety of subjects-the issue isn’t the issue or put another way, the…

The beginning of any pursuit is important. If you start at the wrong place, you typically end at the wrong place. I have found this to be true in my many life experiences and particularly true in writing. Sacred Duty, my first book, to be released soon, began with a desire to tell multiple stories seemingly unconnected that later find…

A broken leg, a cast. A broken heart, a story I’m often asked how I came up with the ideas for my novels. I cover a lot of territory: war, meaning, redemption, truth. There was no plan, or checklist covering these topics. What surprises me most is the consistent presence of the strained father-son relationship theme. I never sought to…

I remember seeing a video of a mama bear in the wild who could not find her cub. Though she was animal I could feel her anguish, and desperation. Her eyes were wide with the kind of fear that already sees an agony that can’t be undone. Her nose sniffed violently like two hooks had been inserted in her nostrils…

Warning: This post has nothing to do with dieting. I have very little to say about that. The reference relates to motivation. Check out this illustration. A friend of mine had a new hunting dog. It was well trained, and had shown excellent ability on several hunts. But on the first day he took her out alone, trainer gone, the…

Like all authors I am often asked where I come up with my ideas. Generally, there appear to be two sources. And I say \”appear\” because if any writer is honest the whole thing is a mystery. So what I say here is really just an understanding of the outer edges of the creative process. The ideas, not the dialogue…

I’m not a young guy. Been around more than six decades. But there’s something Shakespeare wrote that I find true about writing that defies the years. He said, \”All love is young.\” I write for many reasons but one is that I love the process and as Shakespeare put it, that which we love inspires a youthfulness, a vigor, an…

If I am completely honest, I write because of what I get from the process. I do appreciate telling a good story but what drives me to the keyboard is often the unwitting messages, the deeper unseen things that I can discover nestled within a great story. There are many days when I turn my computer off, maybe crack open…