My muses inspire me!
Demicon is an amazing Science Fiction and Fantasy convention hosted in Des Moines, IA every spring. We’ve had a vendor table at the con since 2014. This year we wanted to do something different and put in a request to host a room party. When Demicon announced they had to go virtual, they offered [...]
I was in line for a hot dog at one of my daughter’s Parent’s Night marching band rehearsals when a young woman approached. “You’re Joanne’s dad, right?” she asked. “Yeah,” I said, wondering what I had done wrong. “I loved Angst!” she said with a broad smile. “Oh, thank you,” I said, surprised. “How [...]
I made the mistake of saying I’m cutting back on some stuff in my life to take care of myself. It’s the Murphy’s Law equivalent of washing your car. Either way there’s going to be a storm, and this one has been a wild ride. I left for a business trip to Austin on [...]
I tend to be a glass-is-half-full (of vodka) kinda guy, but I’ve got to admit that 2017 kicked me in a few places that I only show to my wife. I do have a lot to be grateful for, and the universe seemed to take its time punishing me for that. As an exercise, [...]
I like to maintain a well-balanced schedule, giving equal time to my family, friends, my day job, exercise, and writing. This is why most of the cons I’m planning to attend in 2017 are crammed within five weeks. (My wife thinks it’s because I don’t want to exercise! That’s crazy talk.) There are so [...]
Visioncon is an adventure that just keeps getting better with age. Everything about it is what makes cons both fun and inspiring. You can tell just how hard the staff works to put this con together because everyone who attends is beside-themselves happy. The con has grown a lot over the five years we’ve been [...]
A writer friend of mine recently expressed some of her frustrations on Facebook, and how, sometimes, writing can feel thankless. Her post wasn’t hateful or negative, she was merely disheartened. I get it. You pour days and soul into your work, and when it’s all done, the rewards don’t always feel like they compensate the [...]
This 4th of July was a fun adventure! I had the pleasure of doing a photo shoot with my muses, and it was a blast! I've done several photo shoots in the past with Cristi, both for day-to-day promotional images and for a poster we give away with book purchases at conventions. Every time [...]
Whoa! I'm not sure what happened, but I think a con passed by at light speed! Isn't that always the case? The things you look forward to the most take for-ev-er to get here and then when it arrives, time speeds up as you try to take it all in? This happened to me [...]
2015 was a year of incredible highs and terrible lows. It’s been a galactic roller coaster. "Hey, look, it’s the beautiful Milky Way... Uh, wait, how did I end up in a planet's molten core?" Ugh. Life threw a lot of extremes at me, and is every reason why I had some angst. [...]
