Archive • High Octane and Unputdownable • Buttondown

Insert Title Here

November 13, 2024

I love choosing titles. My process is a bit wonky. They rarely come to me off the top of my head. I never know (except with a draft of something I’m working...

Structuring the Cat or Something

October 25, 2024

I’m allergic to cats. There’s something very artsy buried deep, deep down in my writer’s gut. Something that tells me, no, no you’ll figure it out as you...

Fulfilling a Promise

September 24, 2024

There was a moment in the writing of The Evil that Men Do that I remember so clearly. There was a plot twist in front of me—one I hadn’t expected to happen...

Back on the Horse

September 11, 2024

So, last time out I explained the ins and outs of OH GOD I HAVE TO START OVER. Well, this time I’m back to where I want to be. I’m about 2000 words behind...

August 20, 2024

Sometimes, you think you have a brilliant idea, and then that kernel blows up in your face. Thus, being a writer. I am kind of in between things at the...

Happy to Be Here

The writing business is hard. We all know that. I covered it, sort of, in one of my first ever newsletters—I said you had to be a roach. Keep going. Keep...

The Magic of Sound

I’m sitting here writing this and listening to the end of The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson. I’ve never been an audiobook fan—finding myself impatient...

Every Single Day

I think about writing every single day. I’ve been published in some shape or another for 24 years and all that time I think about writing. If I’m reading a...

A Short One Worth Your While

I know a lot of people who like quiet books. Quiet movies. People just kind of sitting around talking. That’s not for me. Vince Gilligan used to talk about...

In my younger and more “I have more time on my hands” days, I was what the kids call a pantser. I would write without a plan. The characters would talk,...

Reading is FUNda--no, it's just fun

I think a lot of writers try to pull apart what makes best selling novels, especially the big ones, tick. Writers who consistently hit the list, are huge...

I Like the Whole Album

My son is really into music right now. He loves listening to Pearl Jam, The Fratellis, Bleachers or Black Keys in the car with me. Except there’s just one...

You Have to Be A Roach

You have to be a roach to survive in publishing as an author. I said this to someone the other day, and had to clarify. I don’t mean you need to be sneaky or...

Writing is Risk Taking

It’s called a novel for a reason. That was something my first agent said to me, when we came up with a scene he had never seen before in a book. I say “we”...

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

Oh man, do authors hate this question. I think a lot of people feel it trivializes part of the process and that if they could answer this question, writing...

Sometimes (a lot of times?) I Don't Feel Like a Writer

It’s no secret I haven’t put a book out in a while. Well, maybe it is a secret, whispered in the halls of Bouchercon or Left Coast Crime, hush tones while...

Middle Aged Dad Talks (Writing) Process

For me, it's not just the pun itself that's funny. It's the creation of it. The rapid fire of neurons or synapsis in my brain making a connection of word to...