My life has been pretty simple. I grew up in Alabama and graduated from the University of Alabama with a Bachelor's in Advertising. I have spent about the last ten years in web development. In 1998, a friend of mine and I started a web design company we ran for three or four years before deciding to close it due to the demands of school. Since then, I stayed in the web working with various companies in Alabama. I worked for a brief period with Southern Progress, namely with Southern Living magazine and Health magazine, in their web departments. While there, I also wrote for Southern Living magazine, Health.com., and the company's internal newsletter. I write as much as I can. For the last five years, I have been working on my first novel. I am on the third revision now and hope to be finished with this draft by the end of the year. I also write short fiction, though not as frequently as I used to due to the time I spend on the novel. My goal is to have my novel published in the next three years. Other interests include: History (particularly medieval and ancient civlizations), Reading, Foreign Language (I currently speak Spanish but plan to learn as many as I can), Landscape Photography, the outdoors, sports (especially college football), and Travel.
It seems that writing dialogue would come naturally to everyone — as naturally as speaking — but writing and speaking are two very different things. The difficulty in writing good dialogue comes with making your dialogue sound like natural speech, but avoiding all of those “uhs” and “you knows” that… Read More »Writing Dialogue (excerpt from my novel included)
In my recent short story The Sea-Ghost, I make mention of William de Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury. The following is a brief biographical sketch about him. William de Longespée (also known as “Longsword”) was an English noble born in 1176, and he was the illegitimate son of Henry II,… Read More »William de Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury
On this date, August 29th, in medieval history: 1179 – Castle Chastelet falls to Saladin 1189 – Ban Kulin wrote The Charter of Kulin, which became a symbolic “birth certificate” of Bosnian statehood. 1261 – Election of Pope Urban IV 1350 – Battle of Winchelsea (or Les Espagnols sur Mer):… Read More »Medieval Timeline: Today in Medieval History
The last review I did was on the historical fiction novel The Archer’s Tale by Bernard Cornwell, and I thought I would go ahead and finish out the series before moving on to other books. Vagabond is the second installment in The Grail Quest Series by Bernard Cornwell, and the… Read More »Review of Vagabond by Bernard Cornwell
On this date, August 27th, in medieval history: 1172 – Marguerite married Henry Plantagenet and was crowned Queen of England
I’ve added a couple of more writing resources to my bookshelf. The Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market and the Guide to Literary Agents are essential resources for any writer looking to publish his/her work. Writers Digest Books publishes both of these reference guides. Guide to Literary Agents provides a… Read More »Additional Writing Resources
I just got back to town yesterday from a week and a half vacation, which is why I haven’t been able to post to my site as much lately. My wife and I took a road trip out west. We went hiking in Utah, Idaho, and Arizona, and passed through… Read More »Back from Out West
I probably won’t be able to blog as much over the next week and a half. My schedule is pretty full, so I don’t know how often I’ll be able to submit new posts or even check my personal email. I will still post the medieval historical fiction novel of… Read More »Blogging Update
The Islesman by Nigel Tranter Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Hodder Headline (June 1, 2003) Comments from the Publisher: “The absorbing tale of Angus Og MacDonald, Lord of the Isles, set in the turbulent days of Robert the Bruce. Angus Mor, Lord of the Isles, had a son, Alexander of Islay.… Read More »Medieval Historical Fiction Novel of the Week