"Why do they [write] for their money? Why do they [work] for short pay? They ain't getting nowhere and they're losing their share. They must have gone crazy back there." — Michael Burton (paraphrased)
The Charge of the Light Brigade is on TV. I flipped over when Son of Lassie ended. I’m hardly watching. It’s background noise. For some reason, I like it while writing. Such as now. A familiar morning feeling. It’s like stretching before exercise. I remember that. I was just thinking about …
Continue reading Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah, Get Ready, Get Ready!
I've written four novels and a collection of short stories. I've also written a number of books about sports, mostly about NASCAR. You can find most of them here. The Kindle versions of my books, where available, can be found above. Links below are to print editions. I've written a crime novel about the …
Continue reading Last Night I Saw Ghosts in the Flags Behind Trump
For a long time, I was a creature of habit. For all but the holiday season, I was working when most people were off and off when most were working. I’d warm up for NASCAR – full-time, 1993-2012 – by spending most of a week at preseason media functions, then spend half of …
I don't have a clue whether or not the KindleScout program will be interested in my fifth novel, Cowboys Come Home. Two previous novels, Crazy of Natural Causes and Forgive Us Our Trespasses, have been selected by the Amazon program, so, as Bill Murray said in Caddyshack, I've got that going for me. On the …
Continue reading The World’s Fastest Review Is Two Clicks Away
I guess I found some identity in Roan Poulter's Motorcycle Chronicles that meshed with my own. On several levels. There are three of them, all about the troubled, but evolving relationship between bohemian literary figure Anne Carter and the son, Jordan, she left behind. Anne is an influence but not a character, in the final …
On with the show, this is it! That Oscar-winning rabbit concluded his intro with that tune, and, as of 12:01 a.m. today (Wednesday, August 17), my fifth novel, Cowboys Come Home, is up for nomination in Amazon's KindleScout program. Two previous novels -- KindleScout is fiction only -- have been published in the program, which …
Continue reading Little Help? Got a Manuscript Loose Out There
Sunday was astonishingly productive. I touched all the bases of my various sources of income. Now it’s Tuesday. Monday was a blink-out. On Monday, I went to Laurens District High School to take photos of football players. Before that, I chatted with Raiders head coach Chris Liner during the waning minutes of practice. Afterwards, my …
Continue reading I’m So Short of Money, It Makes My Eyes Itch
I don't know what to make of this election. Somehow the voters of the two major parties managed to spend two years narrowing down the respective fields to the candidates whom they like the least. That's democracy in action. I'm voting for Hillary Clinton, of course. If I vote for Donald Trump, I might as …
It's dripping rain in the Poconos. It's iffy at Baltusrol. It's hot as fire here, but it's supposed to rain tomorrow. If the afternoon arrives and the race is delayed, I'm not going to watch NASCAR drivers pet their puppies (um, woe be unto thy dirty minds) in the motorcoach lot. I may mow the …
Continue reading Them Steadily Depressing, Lowdown, Mind-Messing Social Media Blues
Don't it beat all? Ain't things out of control? Damndest thing ever I seen. That's what my old man used to say. Damndest thing ever I seen. At the very least, three or four times a day. I guess he was easy to impress. One of the beauties of baseball is that, no matter how …
Nightrider's Lament 