The Crotchety Old Man

Category: Updates

  • Finding Myself in My WIP

    A bit of me goes into everything I write, sometimes on purpose, sometimes not. Reading my novels gives you some idea of who I am and how I see the world. Mental health professionals who read all three probably see enough to offer a diagnosis. Since penning my first novel, I’ve struggled to figure out who I am as a writer.…

  • The Evolution of a Writer

    Some people know who they are from an early age. Not me. Despite my 57th birthday later this week, I’m still trying to figure it out. Announcing who I am or what I intend to do never sticks for long. More than half a century of wrong guesses and empty proclamations lead me to believe I’m not supposed to know. The…

  • Pantsing Magic

    Plotters plan out everything about a story ahead of time. Pantsers make up the story as they go along. My writing process has been different for each of my novels, but I fall squarely on the pantsing side of the continuum. I drift toward plotting now and then, but no matter how hard I try, my books…

  • Taking the Bull by the Horns

    Novels are an author’s bread and butter. Yet, for most of this year, I’ve made little to no progress on a trilogy based loosely on certain events from my life. Other commitments have been part of the problem, but the bigger issue has been my inability to separate fact from fiction. Writing pure fiction is a process of…

  • Ready for Some Strange

    Coming up with an idea for my next novel has never been a problem. By the time I finished writing Until Thanksgiving, most of After Christmas Eve had already come together in my head. Once I started writing that story, I knew several of the characters would turn up at the Stonewall Riots for Happy…

  • Fabulous Five Blog Hop

    My dear friend Charlie Cochet invited me to take part in the Fabulous Five Blog Hop. No big deal. Answer five questions on my blog and I’m done. One of these days, I’ll learn that nothing is ever as easy as I think it will be. After much pondering, knuckle-gnawing, and hair-pulling — a high…

  • Happy Independence Day Release Party & Blog Tour

    Dreamspinner Press has officially released my third novel, Happy Independence Day. The story features the relationship between Terrence Bottom and Cameron McKenzie and is set in June 1969, a few years later than the prequel, After Christmas Eve, and about 225 miles farther north. Much of the action occurs in and around the infamous Stonewall…

  • A Beary Good Read

    Does a wild bear shift in the woods? To find out, read my first short story, The Bear King of Snowbird Mountain in A Taste of Honey, an anthology now available from Dreamspinner Press. All the stories revolve around bears — the gay subculture rather than the omnivorous, furry, clawed variety that hibernate over the winter.…

  • My New Brand

    A couple of years ago, I naively believed an author’s only job was to write stories. The lucky few who hit the big time could add interviews and appearances to the job description. Turns out, I was wrong. <gasp> There’s more — a lot more. Promotion is a labor-intensive, time-consuming, and expensive part of the job I’ve…

  • He’s Back…

    Six years ago — for no good reason — I started blogging as the Crotchety Old Man. My musings revolved around things that pissed me off, like pet owners leaving dog poop on my lawn, bad drivers, and poor service. Writing to entertain was a lot of fun and a nice change from the kind of writing I did for…