At the age of fifty-three, I began spending most of my days writing. I had written about a dozen plays and three novels. A couple of the plays were okay, but the novels, were bad (“bad” is too kind). But I kept at it. My acting career, which had come so easily for about thirty…
Time travel novel invites you to choose: love or success? “The Midnight Library” meets “You Again” in timeless tale of romance, regret, and the choices we make–and would make again, given the chance If you could go back in time and pursue a successful career or a flourishing relationship, which would you choose? Award-winning author…
A RAINDROP IN THE STORM (Linda’s Talk with God) Linda usually wakes up before I do. The first thing she does is have a little quiet time with God. After she did that this morning, she made coffee. There was a cup on my bedside table when I woke up. She was propped up on…
I started reading Anne Lamott in the late nineties. I wanted to move from playwriting, which I’d done for decades, to novels and had been told by a handful of smart people that Ms. Lamott’s Bird by Bird was as valuable a guide to writing good prose as I could find. I loved her voice,…
I have a child’s memory of World War II. My father was in the Army Air Force. He was a doctor stationed at various induction centers around the West and the Midwest: St. Louis, Lincoln Nebraska, Salt Lake City, and Colorado Springs. As a little boy, I remember a surge of emotion listening to the…
I earned my keep as an actor for most of my life. I love the theatre. I also love reading and books and there came a time in my 60s when it seemed like a good idea to give writing a full time go. The more I write, the more I love doing that too….
Accepting the gift horse is the important thing; dissecting the creature serves no purpose. We are offered a free ride. We’re meant to grab him/her by the mane swing up, and let it take us wherever it’s going. Troubles or not, life is a beautiful ride, what a joy to be offered the chance to…
Will hidden animosities, demons and secrets kill completion of the lost John Wayne/James Dean film? In “Impersonators Anonymous,” a new mystery thriller, a Hollywood producer takes the risk of her life to complete a film, but her face blindness masks reality When actor Rick Lenz starred in John Wayne’s last movie, “The Shootist”in 1976, he…
I wrote a little play about thirty years ago. It’s about a family whose relationships keep shifting. I had no coherent point of view in mind when I wrote it. I just wanted to keep the audience interested. I got a call recently from a man who’s directing that play at a college in Northern…
When I was a young actor, before I became an older actor—and long before I decided to quit taking my rejections in person; choosing to be a writer instead and receive them through the mail or electronically, I worked on the stage, mostly in New York City. The high point of that time was when…