My friend Howard was a copywriter who wrote for television and leading advertising agencies for many years, often winning awards for his work. One evening, over a drink, he told me about being on a set where they were shooting a commercial for agricultural products. The creative team planned to use actors from Atlanta…
I wrote the following almost ten years ago. Since then, things have changed. Dave’s Modern Tavern burned down a few years ago, but new ownership had made it a less hospitable place even before that happened. The art gallery Graffiti is also gone. Still, there was a time when they were special places, and what…
Carol Lannon of the Signal Mountain Mirror was kind enough to write a combined article about my creative life as an artist/writer and a review of my new historical mystery, An Uncertain Peace. Click to read the article!
Work on my novel, An Uncertain Peace, began almost thirty years ago. I had an idea for a story about a Civil War officer who was involved in gathering intelligence. General Grenville Dodge led an early incarnation of all-source intelligence for the Western Union Army, and that seemed like it might be fertile ground for…
In a previous post, “In the Beginning…“, I discussed how the concept for An Uncertain Peace originated in a coffee shop in Mobile, Alabama. That step was crucial; it gave me a goal. However, it did not give me a plan for writing the novel. I thought it did, but it didn’t. To use an…
By the end of my post, “How Do You Get To Chicago?”, I had a manuscript of 125,000+ words lying in a computer file. Visions of agents pounding on my door and publishers desperately outbidding each other for the book rights danced in my head. Then, like a car crash, reality smashed into my life….
My life has been spent working with images and, more recently, with words—a creative life lived in two worlds. I’ll be posting observations and comments on those efforts on this website, and I’ll also present some of my art and writing. I hope you enjoy this exploration of the creative life. So how did…
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…
Recently, a friend of mine, an artist by training, said that she had some stories she’d like to write, but that time had passed her by. Writing, she said, was a young person’s game. I disagree with that idea, but I didn’t say much in reply. I suspected the meaning behind her words…
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…
“Yeah, you can have any of that junk in the basement. I don’t care.” The tone of Tom’s voice made it clear he sincerely did not care. Many things had drifted into his basement as older relatives died off, and Tom felt little connection to any of them. He had gotten rid of as…