Category: from the publisher
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On Travel Writing
As my regular readers may know, and has been mentioned in this newsletter, I am in Dublin, Ireland today with my good friend and traveling companion, M. My daughter brought me to D.C. last weekend so that M. and I can leave from his home on Wednesday night after I get done…
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Tips to jumpstart creativity
Tip One: Allow yourself some brain-dead time If you’ve been stressed or in a rut, find something that doesn’t require effort to lean you toward creative productivity. I’m not talking about spending all day on the couch or sleeping until 2 p.m., but watch a favorite movie or one that mirrors…
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Bookstore Review: Midtown Scholar, Harrisburg, Pa.
Voted the Publisher Weekly’s Bookstore of the Year Today Eva and I visited Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg, Pa, the state capital. I am headed to Washington D.C. to meet my friend M with whom I will travel to Dublin later this week. Eva is technically delivering me to D.C.…
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Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?
I don’t “doom scroll.” I got my first iPhone in 2009 to settle my anxiety. Everything I could need was in my pocket, accessible by a tiny computer known as the iPhone 3GS. I start my mornings and end my evenings by checking my email, studying dog training videos (as…
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Reflections on My Left Foot
I ended up reading Christy Brown’s My Left Foot this weekend. (The movie stars Daniel Day Lewis. I watched that also.) Christy, born in 1932 as a middle child in an Irish Catholic family of 22 children, had cerebral palsy. The only limb he could control was his left foot— and he even learned to…
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5-star reads from 2025
Let’s take a look at what I read in 2025. According to Goodreads, I read more than 15,500 pages in published books. I say published books because I also read unsolicited submissions for Parisian Phoenix and piles of pages for editing and critique. The shortest book I read was Exactly how I Promote and Sell…
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Welcome, Historical Society
Finally, I want to welcome the Greenwich Historical Society to the Parisian Phoenix fold, as they contacted me about publishing their hometown heroes banner project in a commemorative book. Gayle and I met with the society last night at the Greenwich Township Municipal Building in Stewartsville, N.J., which— full circle— was one of the…
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Our start to 2026
A few weeks ago (or maybe a month or two), I talked about cleaning my desk. Since then, I’ve emptied a bookshelf, reorganized and purged business supplies and developed a system for tracking and storing inventory. Because, guys, I’ve reached the point where I need a system for tracking, storing,…
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Life as a working writer
I dedicated myself to my publishing business more seriously when I was laid off in September 2023. I have not worked a full-time job since. In true working writer fashion, I accept freelance writing and editing and journalism assignments, teach college courses when they are available and even serve as…
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