As a way to share some of the other things I’ve done during the last few months in New Zealand, I decided to post some of my favorite day hikes. I tend to favor tougher, longer hikes, as they are usually a little quieter and a little more rewarding, but, as you shall see, all of these were photo-worthy.

Another year, another rounding up of literature. While during the first half of the year, my reading fell off, upon my arrival in New Zealand, it picked back up, and I found 5 books that stood apart.

I went bungee jumping for the first time in my life. I had been skydiving once before, as I’ve mentioned previously, but that was something I had always wanted to do. I cannot say the same about bungee jumping.

The best stories can inspire one’s real life decisions, often for the better.

There are some people who know exactly where they belong. For better or worse, I am not one of those people.

I have been asked by a number of people what I’m doing in New Zealand. In many ways, the same questions that are posed to me about my travel can also be applied to my writing.

The Auckland Art Gallery I am an avid museum-goer. Next to travel and hands-on experience, it’s one of the best ways to learn. They are more interactive than reading a simple textbook. But there is another level that I hadn’t considered until recently, and that is the role of storytelling in museums. It’s easy to allow a cliché term to lose its value, such as “a picture is worth a thousand words.” I tend to appreciate paintings and photos in museums more, however, when there

I consider myself to be very lucky, in the grand scheme of things.

I just returned from a 2-week stint in Iceland. Typically, I do not vacation for rest and relaxation. While I can appreciate the need for...

Today’s the day! I am now officially an author. How does it feel? It’s actually a little difficult to say. As thrilled as I am, there’s a...

With less than 10 days before I publish Specks of Dust , I figured now would be as good a time as any to write a new blog post. (Myself...

I admit, when I began 2021, I did not anticipate turning my reading into anything thematic. While I’ll save the discussion of how I pick books and authors for a future post, I’d like to focus on tendencies I’ve noticed in this year of reading. Me, with my last book of the year First, unlike most years, I’ve doubled up on several authors in a short period of time. Usually, as with Faulkner, Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Roth, I wait a year or two until I return to them. This year,

For a little while now, I have had a free short story available for those who sign up for my email list. It took me multiple tries, however, to get the story right. First, I needed to decide what I wanted out of this story. I wanted it to be something new, not a sneak peek or scrapped piece of the book that didn’t make the cut. I also wanted the short story to flesh out a side character in the book. In my first attempt, I picked a character I was less comfortable with in the

It has been too long since I’ve written here. To get you up to speed on my activities, I decided to write a blog post about it. Most of my time in 2021 was spent planning and executing a 67-day road trip across the USA. This expedition was initially slated for the spring of 2020, but we all know why that had to be scrapped. However, anyone who knows me can tell you that I cannot stay in one place too long. Even when it comes to small things: when I talk on the phone, I pace;

Chances are that you, dear reader probably know me personally. But how well do you really know me?

Me reading at the orphanage where I worked as a volunteer during the summer of 2017 Every writer has her/his own method of discovering and writing stories. I know that I have heard from many a vague source, "write what you know." Certainly, there is validity in the statement. But with Unbelief , and often with writing books, the story will take the writer beyond her/his comfort zone. I find it important not to resist whichever way the character pulls the plot, even when it is

It seems that with every book I read, my writing style shifts, sometimes in a minor and temporary way, and sometimes in big and long-lasting ways. Here are some books that played a big role in how I went about writing Specks of Dust . The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: I read this book while I was in Uganda. The way Plath walks the reader through the the difficulty of mental health and the pressure of finding an acceptable place in society were important models for my main protag