A personal essay about all the books I haven’t read and some I have.. How many books have you started reading but never finished? That’s a question I asked myself recently now that I have many more unread books than ones I’ve finished. And I read a lot. I won’t even talk much here about…

I’ve always had it in the back of my mind to write a children’s book, but I wasn’t sure where to start. I wanted an idea that inspired me yet appealed to children from six to ten years of age—maybe because my twin grandsons are seven years old. To appeal to children, my children’s book…

[ When I’m invited to speak at libraries and book-signings, the question I am asked most often is, “Where do you get your ideas?” I shared in part my personal answer to that question in my last post, Reading for the Soul. Today I’m happy to share two stories of writing and inspiration–the story behind…

While cleaning out my crazily cluttered attic, filled with thirty-eight years of things my wife, Amy, and I don’t need, but couldn’t part with, broken chairs, boxes full of clothes, ancient computers, ‘80s vintage suitcases, and the like, I stumbled across something quite special. Fire Hazzard Let me back up. If you’re a procrastinator like…

“She looked in the mirror. Despite the makeup, she could see the puffy, gray circles under her eyes. Being President takes its toll on us all, she thought.”— from Not So Dead When I wrote the above passage in my first novel, Not So Dead, it just came naturally. When you look in the mirror,…

A True Story – My sister stumbled upon a fifty-five-year-old set of documents. Buried beneath the legalese, the text evokes a flood of personal memories as it reveals the story of a family in the 1950s. The sales agreement, mortgage releases, and title insurance papers on their face codify the sale of the Palace Theater,…

Story by Marlene Claire Steele, Oralee O’Byrne, and Charles Levin Written by Charles Levin [Reader’s Note: Last month, I asked readers to suggest the second half of the plotline in a story I started Thanks to all those who contributed their very creative and fun ideas. I chose two from readers, Marlene and Lee, whose…

“Make it a story of great distances and starlight…”– Robert Penn Warren from Tell Me A Story Updates [Update: In the last nine months since I posted this article, several exciting new advances in Text-to-Speech technology have arrived on the scene. At the end of this article, I have included information and thoughts on two…

[Note: Renata and Juan are both important characters in my recently-released, thriller novel NOT SO GONE ] Crazy Nonsense “Stop! Stop filling my head with your crazy nonsense,” Renata cries. “Sorry, I’m addicted to breathing and your crazy ex, Brad, almost put an end to that. It’s not nonsense. Look at this.” Juan lowers his collar,…

A little fictional roadside whimsy this week . . . Enjoy! ——————————————————————— Lea stares at her reflection in the glass window at Starbucks. She likes having blue eyes in a brown-eyed world. She settles back with her hot coffee, breathes in the aroma like a fine wine, and gently sips. People coming and going in…