what stays and what goes
I am about at the halfway mark with my 13 weeks, writing from the summer solstice to the fall equinox, when I hope to turn in a chunk of the new book, temporarily called CHARLOTTESVILLE, to my editor. I can't remember what specifically about the book I've talked about...
the solstice to equinox project
I am at a point with my work-in-progress -- all of my works in progress, but especially with what I've been calling The Lost Cause Project (aka "Charlottesville") -- that I need to concentrate. Both focus and concentration have been hard to maintain since 2020 and the...
I've been collecting oral histories of the Battle of Resaca, part of Sherman's campaign to capture the city of Atlanta and win the South for the Union in the Civil War. This snippet is from Daniel Ransdell, who fought with the Seventieth Indiana Regiment, commanded by...
BOBBY: A Story of Robert F. Kennedy
To celebrate the publication (today!) of BOBBY: A Story of Robert F. Kennedy, here is a book-birth story. The path to publication began in 2007 — 15 years ago — at a conference in Washington, D.C. where I had lunch with some publishing people and we got to talking...
bookshop.org
Here we go. I want indies to survive this pandemic so they are still here, creating community and a literate society, for us and with us, as they've always done, when we emerge from our sheltering in place. Please consider opening a book buying account at bookshop.org...
books in the time of corona
Hello, friends. What a time. I've made some posts on IG and want to put them here, where I will end up posting in more depth about Kent State and other books, and, well, life in the time of corona, I guess. Without belaboring anything, here is post one, which I'll...
diversity in my books, part 4, kent state
[Note: this is a February (sneaking into March) series on the diverse themes and characters in Deborah Wiles’s books. I’m publishing the series during Black History Month, with the full knowledge that my books are written from a white person’s point of view (as I am...
diversity and my books, part 3, the Sixties Trilogy
[Note: this is a February series on the diverse themes and characters in Deborah Wiles’s books. I’m publishing the series during Black History Month, with the full knowledge that my books are written from a white person’s point of view (as I am white), and that every...
diversity and my books, part 2, the Aurora County novels
[Note: this is a February series on the diverse themes and characters in Deborah Wiles’s books. I’m publishing the series during Black History Month, with the full knowledge that my books are written from a white person’s point of view (as I am white), and that every...
the book of love
"The Book of Love" by The Magnetic Fields, written by Stephin Merritt, and posted by me today, for Jim Pearce. I took a long, surprising, winding road to this valentine of mine, and didn't even know I was headed in this direction. But here I am and here we are, and...
diversity and my books, part 1, freedom summer
[Note: this is a February series on the diverse themes and characters in Deborah Wiles's books. I'm publishing the series during Black History Month, with the full knowledge that my books are written from a white person's point of view (as I am white), and that every...
new year, new path
Greetings at the close of an old year, the beginning of a new year, and a journey into the great unknown. As is every day. We shepherded Anthem into print in 2019; it had a short moment in the sun, since it was published in October, so you'll be learning more about...