Signal Mountain Mirror–Article and Review

Recently, a friend of mine said that she had some good stories in her mind, but that time had passed her by. She was too old to be a writer. Writing was for the young. I didn’t say much, as I suspected that what she meant was that she didn’t have the energy or the…

There is an old saying in Texas, “When the horse is dead, it’s time to get off.” As an artist and a writer, that’s good to remember. Sometimes, one must admit that things are not working out as planned. What began with clarity of vision has now become murkiness of purpose. One must finally acknowledge…

As writers, we must have a critical feedback loop. Rather like the body’s immune system, it must be strong enough to ward off what is destructive or unnecessary, but not so strong that it stifles healthy growth. That balance is essential. If the feedback loop is too weak, a writer can’t develop greater facility in…

The following post was published in October 2013.  I’m re-posting it on this website since it illustrates how the arts can, even on a rainy day in London, bring enchantment to life. I was thirteen when I decided to become an international jewel thief. Like many criminal decisions, mine was impulsive, and it involved a…

I’ve been drawing all my life and painting since middle school, so it should come as no surprise that my goal was to become an artist. Yet in college, where I studied art, I took all the history courses I could and came to enjoy writing term papers. Yes, you read that correctly. I suppose…

A nearly 100-year-old Underwood typewriter came into my life recently. My wife and I went to Atlanta to meet the newest addition to the family, baby Violet. While we were there, we stopped by to see our brother-in-law, and he gave us an old Underwood portable typewriter that had belonged to my wife’s dad. It…