Up at 4AM and on the 5AM airport shuttle to catch an early flight which (we find out at the airport) is delayed until 8:30. Lost some sleep with that glitch. I had to wait to creep through TSA before I got my first cup of coffee. Tip for you younger readers: Don’t start drinking [...]

2:30AM Rise and shine! Little plane to Seattle, headed the wrong direction, to hop on another little plane to Reno. I managed to get in a few pages of IQ on both flights, and during the short layover at SEA-TAC. We were met in Reno by our lovely host, and good friend, Ellen Fockler, who [...]

Still a bit under the weather, but functioning and writing in slooooow motion, which is better than not functioning and writing at all I suppose. I’ve now left the laptop and switched back to the Moleskine as I will be on the road for the next few days.  I know myself well enough to know [...]

Leaving Scottsdale, headed up to the farm…getting home in stages. Marcia and Jerry’s house is great. Arrived yesterday afternoon and had fresh squeezed grapefruit, although I could have had fresh squeezed orange juice. Both can be found on trees in their backyard. This was followed by perfectly grilled steaks cooked outside…another advantage of living in [...]

Up at 2AM working. What??? Don’t ask me, I’m just the writer. Perhaps my brain knows it’s going to be a busy day with company and the workers, and the wee hours of the morning is the only time to get my work in. When this happens I don’t fight it. I just go with [...]

Up at 6… Took a little bit of break this morning to go to my last Swap Meet.  I’m not a donut guy, but I love the donuts at the meet.  One a week. Got my last one for this trip and took it back to the house to eat while I work on I,Q [...]

Sent the novel “Beneath” off to my friend Kate Harrison at Dial today.  Can’t quite describe how that felt.  And of course I realize that a novel is never final until it’s in the stores, but I think it’s a pretty good yarn and I trust Kate to make it better.  You’ll be able to [...]

Back down in Mexico. The lovely Ruth and Al picked me up in Arizona yesterday morning for the seven hour drive, made slower by a stretch of rain-damaged road. We arrived just before sundown and found Marie and her mother napping in the car in our driveway. Uh-oh… This could only mean the inside of [...]

I’m back in the States for a couple of weeks to visit schools in Texas and Arkansas and speak at Harding University. On Christmas I got this nice email from Mandy with some questions about writing and the Cryptid Hunter series. Below is the email and Mandy’s questions… Dear Mr. Smith, Hi, my name is [...]

I saw this coming… It’s easy to make entries in this public journal (A.K.A. Blog) when your flying around the country meeting people, speaking, and snapping photos.  It’s a bit more challenging to come up with things to say when you’re in your cave all day writing, because every writing day is pretty much the [...]