If you know my family history, you’re aware I’ve only been a parent since 2018. Well, I was a stepdad until 2023, when I adopted my wife’s daughter Lauren, making it legally, in the words of the judge who signed the paperwork and presided over the lovely ceremony that took place in the courtroom, as […]
I’m substituting today in a sophomore English classs. In preparation for reading John Steinbeck’s The Pearl, we’re watching a video on the history of pearls. While the students watch and fill out a study guide, I have some time to myself. Happily, these kids are terrific, so I can do some writing. And so here we […]
I talked a couple weeks back about my best day professionally, so it makes sense that I talk about my best day personally. Folks who know me well could probably guess this, having heard this story about eleventy billion times, but I love thinking about it, so I’m going to tell the story again anyway. […]
As you may know, I recently performed the wedding of my daughter and newly minted son-in-law. It was an honor and a privilege and a blessing not just to be a part of the wedding, but to be allowed to speak from the heart as they started their voyage through life together. I was told […]
It’s week 4 of my series of short stories. This week is a little different in that it’s part one of a longer story, which I’ll complete for you next week. It does come to somewhat of a conclusion on its own, but stay tuned for, in the words of the late great Paul Harvey, […]
I’m at the end of the road with my new book and am in the process of working up my query letter, so there’s not much news to share on that front. So I thought I might share a couple of stories I’ve written in the last year and haven’t shared anywhere. This story is […]
I’m not sure if I’m unique in this, but I see autumn, along with its counterpart, spring, as less seasons themselves and more as transitions leading to the “main” seasons of summer and winter. I guess I feel this way because they are less extreme than the times they lead into. Fall ushers in the […]
“So, when the journey gets long,Just know that you are loved,There is light up above, And the joy is always enough.Bubbles up.” “Bubbles Up”, by Jimmy Buffett The deaths of celebrities don’t usually have a deep effect on me. I’ll usually say, “Aww…”, discuss some memory I have of their career, and go on about […]
My earliest memories of being in Cincinnati involve camping somewhere on the outskirts of the city, going to a newly opened regional theme park called King’s Island, and then almost always ending up in Kentucky as my dad invariably missed the exit on the way to Riverfront Stadium for a Reds game. Remember, these were […]
When my good friends the Delgados moved to Georgia, it was definitely a sad time. I worked with Jonathan as one of his volunteers for our church’s youth group and Maria, known only to me as Pepper Potts, was, for all intents and purposes, my writing muse. She almost knows the characters in my books […]