Retirement
I’ve been retired now for three months. What is life like? It’s slower, more spread out, quieter. Few things have to be done by the clock. Though I spend two hours a day up in the bedroom working on my writing, that’s not a job, and I
Oopsie!
I made a big boo-boo on my Fourth Wing post...making it sound like I finished ALL BUT ONE of the books I started, when it was just the opposite. Re-read the new opening paragraph on the site and you'll see what REALLY happened!
The Sixth Book of 2026: Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros
Started sometime in the second week of February, 2026 Finished 2/22/26 The book blurbs have been silent this month because I failed to finish all but one of the books I’ve been reading. I decided to try a new reading strategy of pursuing multiple books instead of
The Fifth Book Of 2026: A Princess Of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Started 1/26/26, Finished 1/30/26 I tend to avoid writing earlier than mid-20th century. The changes wrought upon the world by the Second World War changed literature, and for me at least, made it more readable. So here I am, at 70, reading Edgar Rice Burroughs for
The Fourth Book of 2026: The Perfectionists, by Simon Winchester
Started 1/19/26 Ended 1/26/26 I eat this kind of book up. I call the category "popular history;" written for a general reader, concentrating on a single event of concept. I'd never come across Simon Winchester before, but now I'm certainly
The Third Book of 2026: Cibola Burns, by James S.A. Corey
Started 1/13/26, finished 1/18/26 I started reading The Expanse series last year, after several years knowing about it but ignoring it (because, you know, I have to prioritize somewhere). I’m not sorry that I waited, but I’m glad I gave in. It’s been
The Second Book of 2026: Blood and Treasure, by Ryan Pote
Finished reading 1/12/26 This was a hard mini-review to write, because I'm reluctant to say how much I disliked this book...while also giving it the same attention I've devoted to any Tom Clancy or Mick Herron novel. Maybe I wanted to like it.
The First Book of 2026: The Ten Thousand Doors Of January
Finished reading January 9, 2026 Please excuse the huge size of the book cover on the web version of this page. I can't figure out how to make the feature illustration smaller. Maybe next time... There are two cheats here: first of all, I started reading this in
The Books I Read In 2025
2025 wasn't a stellar year for reading, but I did read stuff! As usual, there were too many re-reads, but some very pleasing new (to me) stuff as well. Though I quit tracking my reading in 2023 and 2024, I gave it another try by trying to remember
Self-Publishing, Part 3
It’s Thursday, September 4, and yes, that’s me with a copy of my book in my hand. I received the author copy of my paperback from Amazon yesterday. This is an entirely new experience for me. For the first time ever, I’m holding a book I wrote
Self-Publishing, Part 2
As I start this, it is Monday, September 1, 2025, Labor Day in the US. I started my self-publishing adventure (and it is an adventure) last Friday, and I’ve been making progress. I’ve also gotten myself thoroughly entrenched in Animal Crossing: New Horizons on my Nintendo Switch 2,
Self-Publishing: The Adventure (Part 1)
I’m about to embark on an adventure, and if I don’t get too distracted or lazy, I will document a bit of it. The adventure is self-publishing. This is a journey I’ve already started, but it’s close to getting serious. It’s already cost serious money