Summer gave way to Fall last week, Brad and Angelina are no more, and heck, there's even a new Dos Equis man. Yes folks, change is in the air. But isn't it always? Aren't we constantly evolving? No, I don't necessarily mean in a Darwin kind of way, but I am talking about our thoughts, our likes, our opinions, our wants, desires, dreams and fears. Sure some of those things stick with us forever, like a bad hairdo from the 80's. Come on dude that permed mullet just ain't cool a

I thought I'd use a bunch of random pictures from my phone to catch y'all up a bit. This is Tarek. He will be sixteen soon so the whole driving nightmare is about to begin, but I'm really hard of all the hard work he puts in to school and football. This is Tarek again. Back earlier this summer when my buddy Alex Keto came down for Maryland to take some photographs. Alex is a fine arts photographer who would never stoop to taking a shot of someones backside as they are trying

So I read a couple of interesting things this weekend. Both made me think ... What The Hell? From my last post you know I've eating healthier by necessity. That does not mean I've gone meat free. I would starve if that was the case it just means I now shell out three times the price for free range, never had growth hormone, or antibiotics chicken. Guess what folks? It still tastes like Chicken. But I've been reading about nutrition and I came across an article about a new veg

First off welcome to the new website. I have decided to migrate from my old blogspot location to have a one stop website where you can keep track of me and my writings. I will slowly copy over the old posts that still have relevancy so if you are an old time blog reader of mine or a brand new reader there will be plenty to check out here both old and new. To catch y'all up to speed the publisher for my first two books has closed up shop so I regained my rights. Along with tha

Due to the quick nature of blogging, y'all have endured my terrible typos, gruesome grammar, and some shoddy storytelling. I'm sure many of you have went so far as to say, "And this guy calls himself a writer." Well, today I'm proud to announce that starting today you can read in it's entirety and completely for free -- An actual sample of what I affectionately call my -- Real Writing. That's right head the story I blogged about selling a month or so back is now up on the UND

Pirates don't wear glasses! Those were the first words out of my five year old's mouth about my costume. But more about that later on in this post. ME, IN THE CLASSIC CAPTAIN MORGAN POSE. Don't tell anyone, but that rum bottle in my hand is actually Whalers coconut rum. The beads were woven into my actual beard and they were a hell of a lot easier to get in than out. I used old fashioned moustache wax to make mine stand out like that, the chest hair is real, Mr. Smee from Pet

Writing, and the pursuit of publication is fraught with more ups and downs than expereinced by a bordellos bedsprings. I've had good days and not so good days. But what is the worst? Once upon a time I wrote query letter after query letter to agents seeking representation. As a result I received a very impressive collection of form rejection letters. Then one day I ripped open one of my returned Self Addressed Stamped Envelopes and spotted the unmistakable scribbling of rea

I've never let that stop me before, so here I go again. I started this blog with the idea I'd talk about nothing but the craft of writing and my pursuit to sell a novel. About three people read my blog in those days. Then I started talking my view of the world outside of the business of writing. The Feedstore Chronicles kind of started the story-telling flavor that the blog has developed. Now they are on hiatus while I have moved on to Tales of the Yellow Flag. I hope the r

What makes a writer? I once heard an agents say, "Anyone under the age of thirty-five should attempt to write fiction. " Now this was a reputable agent with a good many projects sold to big houses. But I still say the idea you have to be a certain age to right is utter nonsense. Everyone is a writer in some sense. Don't think so? I'll wager a dozen T-Bone steaks to a head of lettuce that not there's not a single person in this world who hasn't already wrote a conflict sce

I do the vast majority of my writing late when my two boys are either asleep or at school, and I started this endeavor when the oldest was just a newborn. These two facts combined meant that neither of my boys fully comprehended the fact that I am a writer. Every night before bed I read them something and for a good while now, The Captain Underpants books by Dav Pilkey have been at the top of their list. Nothing is funnier to a four and six year old boy than an underwear cl