Author Archives: mcbruce56

I am loving the new job, folks. Which bothers me. Every time in my life that I found myself in a good situation, something unexpected and ugly sits down and fouls the nest. Okay, there’s one thing that is less than optimal. The drive. The long drive. The long tedious drive. I live in Barstow,Continue reading “The Long Drive”

When I walked into the Public Library for the first time at the age of six, I was stunned by the tonnage of books on the shelves. Everywhere I looked, books. Every nook and cranny filled with books. Books on everything. Football. Politics. History. Mysteries. Science Fiction. Basket-weaving. Fly fishing. Books about things I wasContinue reading “Too Many Books”

So the idea of getting a job is that you have a 9-to-5 existence and you come home at night not worried where the next dollar is coming from. You do your job during the day. You write at night. Not so, my friends. At least, not yet. I am enjoying working for the firm.Continue reading “Too Busy to Live”

That ol’ river keeps on rolling, no matter what you do to stop it. Uh, you wouldn’t really try to stop a river rolling, would you? Time is a river that also can’t seem to be stopped. Seems like you just finish a brilliant blog post and suddenly it’s a month later and those fewContinue reading “Falling Behind”

This is the time of year when writers and bloggers make fun of New Year’s resolutions. I know. I’ve done it myself in this very blog. It is human nature, of course, to think that an artificial border between one year and the next will provide us with a new start for our old habits.Continue reading “Irresolute”

There are two times in your life when you enjoy Christmas. The first is when you are a child. There’s something about the smell of the pine tree in the house, the decorations cluttering everything up, and most of all, the anticipation of what you will find on Christmas morning left for you by theContinue reading “Taking a Deep Breath”

I am one of those people who gets sad around Christmas. Can’t tell you why. The best times I’ve ever had during this season were when my son was a boy. I loved buying toys for him, mostly due to the vicarious thrill of watching him play with them. Okay, I would play with him.Continue reading “Another Year, Another Sadness”

As you prepare for your thanksgiving feast, you might want to think about giving some early Christmas gifts. Ahem. My latest Minerva short story, written earlier this year, is included in the above anthology by Dandelion Revolution Press. You can order yours here. It concerns Minerva’s defense of a woman CEO in 1963 who mayContinue reading “Minerva James and the Goddess of the Dance”

How do you know you are on your way in the writing world? When you land on a discussion panel at a conference. In June 2023, Sisters In Crime Los Angeles is presenting a conference on the writing and selling of the crime novel. It’s called the California Crime Writers Conference. Good seats still available.Continue reading “Panel Boy”

Every morning when the sun stumbles through my bedroom window here in Barstow, my groggy brain fully expects to hear my drill sergeant yelling: “Get up! Get out of those beds!” Yes. that was the gentle and loving way we were roused from our cots all the way back in 1974. I enlisted in theContinue reading “Veteran’s Day”