The Quivering Pen

In the final year of this decade, I read my ass off. It’s true; I model a new pair of jeans for my wife (who is also named Jean, go figure)...

How many sentences did I read in 2019? Hundreds of thousands, probably tipping over into the millions. Of all the great lines in all the gr...

Congratulations to Albert Bowes , winner of last week’s Friday Freebie contest: Creatures by Crissy Van Meter. This week’s contest is fo...

As I continue to work on my new book, a memoir whose working title is Happily , I take short, braced-for-sentimentality trips back through ...

Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary. Note: This week, I’m bending ...

Congratulations to Susan Freeman , winner of last week’s Friday Freebie contest: the Big Holiday giveaway. With eleven books on their way, ...

Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary. So we went out of that gr...

Of all the books I read in 2019 (105 and counting, as of this writing), perhaps the one that surprised me the most was Dad’s Maybe Book ...

I have a new essay in an anthology, Why We Write: Craft Essays on Writing War , out today from the good folks at the Military Writers Gu...

Simply put, the best sentence(s) I’ve read this past week, presented out of context and without commentary. I once lifted a picnic ...

Congratulations to Carl Scott , winner of last week’s Friday Freebie contest: The Current by Tim Johnston. This week, I’ve donned a S...