For a short time I lived in Connecticut, and for some reason or other I came upon a US government map (I like maps) of its southern coast. That’s when I discovered the Thimble Islands, which, to quote Wikipedia, “is an archipelago consisting of small islands in Long Island Sound, located in and around the harbor
I began the last story about a story by telling how Book A (Something Upstairs) led to Book B (The Man who was Poe). Here is the story how the Poe book led to Book C, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. Poe is generally credited with having invented the detective tale with his short
I had been working on a book for at least a year. It had reached the stage when the editor agreed it was all but done. I did more work—that “all but done”—and sent it in, but felt dissatisfied. “There’s something not right,” I suggested. “Tell what me what you think it might be.” The editor
Sometimes book A leads to book B. Such was the case for The Man Who Was Poe. My last post, about Something Upstairs, mentions how I moved to Providence, Rhode Island, and how, once there, I began to read about local history. While doing that, I learned that Edgar Allan Poe had important connections to
I was living in Los Angeles, one of the USA’s newest cities. I moved to Providence, Rhode Island, one of the USA’s oldest cities. The city is like a museum of early American architecture. It was a rather like traveling back in time. I began to read about Providence history. I was visiting a school somewhere.
I was saddened to learn of the death of Paula Fox. I did not know her, though I much admired her work. I once had an occasion to sit down with just her for a lunch. We talked about this and that, mostly about her work, and writing. She said something to me that I
When my older boys were in elementary school—it was a small school—they both had a fourth grade teacher who was enamored of Shakespeare and wanted to bring the Bard’s brilliance to her students. That was why every year her class did one of Shakespeare’s plays. To be sure, these were not full-length productions but culled
Sometimes things happen to a writer which allows him or her to write a tale using the incident as the basis for a story. The origin of Wolf Rider was just such a true incident, and it was quite horrific. I had just moved into a new apartment. I had just installed a new phone (this
I recently wrote about my book, S.O.R. Losers, and how it was the fastest book I ever wrote: one day. Now I’ll write about Bright Shadow, which from the time I first started to write it, until publication day, required fourteen years. I cannot recall what triggered me to start this book. I suspect I was
At the time I was living in Lambertville, New Jersey, so it was easy for me to catch a bus and get into NYC for a meeting with my editor. We were going to discuss the new novel manuscript I had sent her. I did indeed meet with her and learn that she was rejecting my