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Pictured above is my beautiful son Adam and his newborn child, Augusta Catherine Marie Bruce. She was born last Friday. I recognize the expression on Adam’s face. It’s the same one I had when the doctors let me hold him 28 years ago at his birth. It’s the expression of a father promising his childContinue reading “Gus”

This nasty little brute is a flying ant. Yes, they fly–at least the males and the queen take wing when it’s time to make thousands of little ants. Last night I was revising (yet again) Minerva James and the God of War when one of these little monsters flew right into my laptop screen. AsContinue reading “Invasion of the Flying Ants”

Writer’s Digest has a little feature in which they feature authors talking about their upcoming first book. I like to read this to kick my own posterior because these authors are always much younger than I am. In this month’s addition, there’s a young woman whose first book of poetry is coming out. How didContinue reading “The Work and the Work”

I have longed to be a professional writer since I was 10. For over 50 years I have been scribbling, writing, reading, revising, attending conferences, getting rejections and the occasional acceptance, which feels like rain in the middle of a drought. I have journaled daily for the last 28 years. I have carried notebooks forContinue reading “My Brother, the Writer”

It was this time last year when the world came to a halt. The streets emptied of cars. Restaurants shuttered their doors. Churches echoed with silence. Everyone hunkered down in their homes and drank hot tea. No one went out to drink with friends–there was nowhere to go drinking. No one went to amusement parksContinue reading “why the lockdown was just another day for me”

The scowling fellow above is, as the inscription tells you, an ancient philosopher named Epictetus. Eppy, as his friends called him (well, maybe not), was a slave in a Roman household who was very wise and very learned. He developed rules for living which is a philosophy now known as Stoicism. Stoicism comes down toContinue reading “The Stoic Life”

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, Once more. Or we’ll fill their holes With our English dead.” Shakespeare, Henry V I was so proud of myself for finishing the first Minerva novel, “Minerva James and the God of War.” It all hung together. There were a few flaws, but overall I thought the bookContinue reading “Once More Unto the Breach”

Well, my friends, I have made the grade. I will be eternally famous so long as Wikipedia is online. I decided to look up the Black Orchid Novella Award, which is my only claim to fame. There, on the Wikipedia page, is my name as the winner of the 2018 BONA. So now my nameContinue reading “Eternal Fame in Wikipedia”

Ok, now I’m going to share something very personal and somewhat uncomfortable. If you don’t like such things, fast forward to the next funny entry. Since I was a boy I have suffered from a diagnosed mild to moderate depression. It’s been with me since I was seven, when my parents split up. It wasContinue reading “The Sadness”

If there is one rule for blogging–and I suspect there are more rules than just one–it is: Make it exciting. Sorry. I am not an exciting person. I am a dull and stupid man, as one of my now-defunct (MySpace!) blogs was called. Really. Look over the topics on this site. Does anything excite You?Continue reading “Make It Dull”