Writing Insights
Like many folks, I’ve been a fan of Peanuts for as long as I can remember because of the wonderful characters and the understated philosophical insights into life that Charles Schulz provided on a daily basis for half a century. There’s an old adage in writing that it is harder to write short than long, […]
Bluster’s Dozen
In researching Bluster’s Last Stand, I read close to a hundred books on Custer and the Little Bighorn in search of historical details and odd facts I could use in my novel. The nice thing about writing fiction is that you can use the accounts that serve your story best without having to confirm their […]
Lomax Is Back!
With the release of Bluster’s Last Stand by Wild Horse Press this fall, my loveable scoundrel H.H. Lomax has returned with another misadventure, this time culminating at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The story of Lomax goes back to the mid-1990s when the editor of Bantam approached me about working with Book Creations Inc. […]
A Camel Born at Sea
My latest young adult novel, Just Call Me Uncle Sam, has now been published by Wild Horse Press. This is my third juvenile novel, but the first where I had actual kids help me write it. The book is the third in my Animal Legends series which looks at our Texas heritage through the eyes […]
Picture Books
As a writer, I am always fascinated by the differences in techniques for various forms of entertainment media. Over my career I’ve written numerous articles, 30 published novels, two produced playscripts (performed far, far from even off Broadway), one screenplay (unproduced and unlikely to see the big screen) and even a published poem. So, I’ve […]
Gentleman of Letters
I am proud to report that my western caper The Fleecing of Fort Griffin has received the Elmer Kelton Award for best creative work on West Texas from the West Texas Historical Association. It is always an honor to see your work rewarded but this recognition is especially meaningful. First, it comes from an organization […]
Ideas Aplenty
Probably the most frequent question I have gotten as a published author is this: Where do you get your ideas? My wife once asked me where I came up with all that stuff, though “stuff” was not her exact phraseology. Even my daughter gave me a Father’s Day Card one year that read, “Fatherhood: the […]
Billy the Kidder
Some 135 years after his demise, Billy the Kid has made me a published poet, proving once again the long reach of the buck-toothed New Mexico outlaw. My trail to writing poetry began in October 2015 with a National Geographic documentary narrated by Kevin Costner and claiming to have found a new tintype of Billy playing […]
The Times It Never Rained
I have a long history with True West so it is always nice to get a byline in the magazine. The October issue carries my story “The Deadliest Enemy” on how Texas ranchers survived the two major droughts of the late 19th century. It was a fun story to research and shows how serious droughts […]
Lottie’s Luck
Since June I’ve been researching and writing a screenplay based on one of my early books, The Lady and Doc Holliday. The timing has been good because Lady is returning to print with a superb cover, unlike the original. I re-read the book twice in the process of adapting it to a screenplay, my first. […]