I’ve been contemplating a website makeover for a while – it’s like getting a new outfit or hair-do – it feels great and has the added bonus of being more reflective of what websites are supposed to do. Namely to let folks know who I am and get a feel for my books when they visit. My old design was …
Five Truths About Writing Competitions
I was recently honored to be a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award. I didn’t win, but it got me to thinking about contests and writing competitions and what they all mean. By nature, I’m somewhat competitive at least in academic matters. I think that at some point early in my childhood it was obvious that I was not going …
Sweet Deal
In five weeks, Sweet Dreams, hits the streets, but it’s available now for pre-order! I’m busy setting up book signings, talks, a launch party, and some fantastic giveaways! As I anticipate the release, I have so many hopes and dreams for this book – one that has a lot of who I am in it. It’s not my story or …
Ramblings on the Writing Life
Once upon a time, I dreamed of writing a book. I’d read thousands of them, surely I could write one. My first attempt was rather feeble. The most that can be said for it was that I finished, and an editor said I had an engaging voice. It wasn’t published, but the bug had bitten and writing became an all-consuming …
Road Tripping
Sorry I’ve been absent this week. I’ll take a detention. The truth is, sometimes you just have to get away. And what better excuse than speaking to a group of writers? And then tacking on a four-day vacation. Well worth a detention and then some. The Siloam Springs Writers invited me to speak at their fall workshop a while back, …
A Step Back In Time
Last weekend I had the privilege of being the visiting author at the Olive Warner Memorial Library in Hooker, OK. It’s just a tiny town in the Oklahoma Panhandle, but my grandparents went to church there when I was a child, and one of my great uncles and his wife lived there many years so it wasn’t totally unfamiliar. What …
Word Weavers and Friends
Virginia Frantz grew up during the Great Depression only a few miles from where Max’s family lived from the early fifties on. Beaver County, OK was hit hard by the depression as was much of the country, but Virginia remembers it vividly and has written about it from time to time. Recently Ken Burns interviewed and filmed Virginia for the …
America’s Future
Today I had the sublime opportunity to talk to a group of students. Yes, I knew it was launch day for Stardust, but I’d been talking to a teacher for awhile, and the students at her small central Oklahoma school would soon be dispersing for the summer, so we set a date for me to visit. What a splendid way …
Sweet Dreams
In two days, I’ll turn in the manuscript for my fourth book – which I hope explains my absence here lately. There’s always so much to do as the deadline looms. Words to compose. Scenes to add. Or delete. Story fragments to unfrag. Facts to check. It’s always an emotional and draining time followed by exhilaration and then a feeling …