2/2/07 -- Took a day off from writing yesterday to go skiing with my daughter, Kelsey, and her boyfriend, Tyler. We drove to Mt. Hood (see photo below, the highest peak in Oregon, elevation, 11, 235 feet). Skies were blue, but the temperature was ...

1/31/07 -- Found myself feeling a bit discouraged this morning by the sluggish speed of my writing. The more I thought about the seemingly glacial pace, the more it bothered me. Within minutes I came to a grinding halt, a victim of the dreaded syn...

1/29/07 -- Action scene today, in this case a fall into a crevasse, which is a giant crack in the surface of a glacier. (See example in photo below.) It was relatively easy writing on one level, there being lots going on and so plenty to talk abou...

1/26/07 -- I was reminded again today of the importance of research in fiction writing, and the importance of sometimes putting it off. Let me explain: First of all, I'm not talking about the kind of research I did so much of in school -- for repo...

1/25/07 -- Writing takes commitment, perseverance, and lots of time. It is not about strolling in spring meadows, or lolling about in the shade of an apple tree waiting for a brilliant idea. It is about sitting in front of the computer for hours, ...

1/24/07 -- Seems I can't leave silly scenes out of a story, even a fairly serious story like STORM MOUNTAIN. Inspired by a food eating contest a young friend of mine named Adam got into a few years back, I took his real life experience and tweaked...

1/23/07 -- Worked today on my new novel, STORM MOUNTAIN. I'm only about a third of the way through the first draft, so my sense of character and place and events is still developing. As you may be able to guess from the title, the story involves m...