Young Judy Clemens popped me right in the snooter the other day. Not literally. Although she and I are both Ohioans, several hundred miles of wild prairie separate us. So she is no physical threat to me. No, it was more a metaphorical pop in the snooter. Here’s what happened:
Last week in her blog, she […]

I started dreaming of becoming a novelist in 1972, I think, just about the time I realized I was never going to be a rock star.
The first novel I wrote was called The Deadfish Drinking Cup. It was a hippy novel. It was horrible and nobody wanted it. Then I wrote a novel called Cool […]

You’ve heard about the gift that keeps giving?
This morning’s essay is about the gift that keeps taking – the laptop I gave the Mrs. For Christmas.
Now that she has her very own computer, she wants her very own office. Which is fine by me. But is has turned out to be something of an expensive […]

Every once in a while we writers crawl out of our hobbit holes and do events.
I had a very fine event last Thursday. I spoke in Canton. At the Friends of the Stark County District Library’s annual meeting. Every chair was filled. My speech went well. I sold a bunch of books. I didn’t get […]

I got a cell phone.
I had decided long ago never to get one.
First of all, I detest the cell phone behavior of others. Yakking while driving. Yakking at coffee shops. Yakking in line at the bank. Yakking in supermarkets. Yakking everywhere. And I hate it when people’s phones go off, playing those horrible little […]

Yes, yes, yes, I got the topcoat. But there was a final plot twist in the story. As you surely remember, Carol took back the coat they sent her because it was the wrong size, a 46 long. And so she took it back and got a 48 long. As it turned out, the […]

Carol and I were married four years ago, on December 21, at the O’Neill House, a magnificent Tudor mansion where one of Akron’s rubber barons once lived. We made our vows in front of a huge Christmas tree, surrounded by family and a lifetime of friends. The harpist played Greensleeves. My grandson, Gabriel, just 14 […]

We creators of fictional sleuths must never get so full of ourselves that we think we could actually solve a real-life mystery. But sometimes it’s hard to stay grounded. Take, for example, this recent snowstorm of clues that have led me to know what I’m getting for Christmas without even peeking in the box.
Here’s the […]

I am a hip, trendy guy. I quickly succumb to new fads and technologies – usually within a decade or two.
Christmas is no exception.
There was a time when I refused to have an artificial tree. Now I have one. There was a time when I disdainfully shook my head at the show-offs who covered their […]

Saturday night Carol and I went to see my mother at the rehab center. She’s been there for several weeks now, since she fell and broke her ankle. Maybe in a couple of weeks she can go home. Before Christmas, God willing.
The rehab center is a wonderful place. It’s called Falling Waters. It’s full […]