One fast desktop computer with all-in-one printer: $1,750. One ream of paper for the printer: $2.85.  One cup of freshly brewed Kona coffee next to the computer: priceless.

This is my writing world. Throw in some good music coming from the computer speakers and I’m ready to write.  At this moment I’m listening to “Java Jive,” first from the Ink Spots, and then the Manhattan Transfer version.  “I like coffee, I like tea, I like the java jive and it likes me.”  The tempo slow and easy, telling you to take your time, enjoy the journey, don’t get too buzzed.

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I sometimes ask my piano students what parts of the body we use to play the piano. Their answers begin with the obvious one (fingers, hands) and then move on t [...]
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A man and a woman sat across from each other at a corner table in a small neighborhood restaurant. Each one held a script and studied it, not speaking or looking [...]
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If I watch one more rerun of Seinfeld I swear I’m going to turn into one of the characters. I think I’ll be Jerry.  He seems the least neurotic.  Kramer is the happiest in the group, but being Cosmo Kramer would be risky business most days.

George and Elaine? Really? Don’t even go there, although the time that Elaine got to be boss for a while and talked on the phone while she smoked a cigar with her feet up on the desk is memorable.

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Our guest blogger today is New York Times bestselling author and Kauai resident Jill Marie Landis.  Welcome, Jill! --------------------------------------- After reading Michael' [...]
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Here’s the third question that helps us understand how readers and writers connect.  Earlier we looked at the connecting power of humor and laughter, as well as a common concern by readers and writers for characters in pain.

Now we come to poison and dying, and at a time like this I wish I were a mystery writer.  Agatha Christie loved to kick off her mysteries with a good old-fashioned poisoning.  Her 80 mystery novels have sold about four billion copies in 45 languages. They say that everybody loves a good mystery, and apparently everybody also loves a good poisoning.

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Here’s a second question that helps us understand how readers and writers connect. Last week we looked at the connecting power of humor and laughter (“if you tickle us, do we not laugh?”). Now it’s time to share a little pain.

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If you tickle us, do we not laugh? This is the first of several questions I want to begin to explore, with the goal of understanding how readers and writers connect. The tickle question comes from Shylock’s speech in Act 3, Scene 1 of The Merchant of Venice.

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Maureen O’Connell asked me a few questions about romance and Valentine’s Day for an article in this Sunday’s Honolulu Advertiser. Yes, I write romantic comedy, but I don’t pretend to be an expert on romance. I may be a bit less confused than when I began writing about romantic entanglements, but, like most guys, I still feel somewhat clueless and clumsy when it comes to questions of romance.

One of the questions Maureen asked me was to name my most romantic character. Excellent question, and for this one I had the answer in about two seconds. Donna Cooper, the title character in my first novel, Queen of the Rodeo, seeks true love and romance for herself throughout that story. Then, in the prequel, Chasing Cowboys, she’s a 19-year old who plays a supporting role as one of the two narrators.

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At last!  The Winter Olympics are almost here. Opening ceremonies take place this Friday.  Once every four years we are treated to a festival of the world’s best athletes on snow and ice. I know we had the Summer Olympics in Beijing two years ago, but I’m one of those people who enjoy the Winter Olympics more.

It’s smaller and cozier, and it has all that snow and ice, cool stuff we don’t see living in Hawaii. Before the show begins this week in Vancouver, I’m feeling nostalgic for the 2006 Winter Olympics from Turin. Here’s what I wrote then about some of the nice-on-ice highlights, including some lessons for writers.

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