Welcome to Gnat Smoke Press

I saw a post on SM where a reviewer gave a book 3 stars because "it read like she was just making it up as she went." Naturally the...

Winston Churchill one said that "Success is not final, failure is not fatal." And for a writer there are no better words of...

So...I usually just blog about writing and my process, but I've faced some mild backlash for the type of writing I do. I've been told "I...

When Robert Frost penned those words so long ago, he probably never imagined how often his words would be called on by subsequent...

For years I've heard the word "Malcontent" used to describe a hoodlum, an anti-social person who doesn't, or refuses to fit into...

I always tell my kids "You gotta do the work." Most things don't just happen for most people. Whether you're in sports, a hobby, or your...

Whenever I talk to other writers, I can see that twinkle in their eye, that glimmer of hope that someday, maybe someday, they'll be a...

In the military, there is an old adage that goes, "Hurry up and wait." It doesn't make a lot of sense, but then again, I tend to be...

There's a line in an old AC/DC song that goes: It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll. I've thought about that line a lot...

Being an author is a peculiar thing to be. Honestly, there isn't even a consensus of what an author actually is. Do you have to be...

As I get older, my eyesight has begun to fail me slightly. I need readers almost all the time now and staring at a computer screen isn't...

A lot is made of new beginnings, and rightly so. New beginnings are exciting and fun. The possibilities are endless. A fresh new start. A...

Imagine if you left Miami Florida and drove to Los Angeles California, but you never stopped along the way to appreciate the scenery....

That's what I tell my kids. If you want to get better, you gotta do the work. Whatever it is that you want to get better at. Writing, and...

I know a lot of writers. I've met writers of every race, gender, creed, and color. I know romance writers, erotica writers, mystery,...

Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want. There may perhaps be no truer adage than that. So many times, we go into...

I was recently at an event and people asked me where I get my story ideas from. I tried to explain as best I could, but I could tell that...

There's an old adage that says, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." While that is certainly true, the first step...

In a previous blog, I talked about the fact that writing isn't for the faint of heart. It takes time and patience, two things that are of...

People aren't afraid of being alone in the dark. They're afraid of NOT being alone in the dark. Some of the scariest moments of my life...