Today is Literary Libations Launch Day!

Today marks a new milestone in my author career. My first solo book, LITERARY LIBATIONS: WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU READ, is gone into the world. Like a bird flying from the nest, it is out of my hands. Now, dear reader, it’s your turn. Your turn to hold, to dog-ear, to spill coffee…

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New Video Alert! What to Drink with A SCANNER DARKLY by Philip K. Dick

Learn what to pour when you open A SCANNER DARKLY by Philip K. Dick

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What Lightning in a Bottle Music Festival Taught Me About Writing Great Characters

A music festival might not seem the ideal place to spend a lot of time thinking about writing, but that’s pretty much all I thought about while I was at Lightning in a Bottle, an electronic music festival at Lake San Antonio, California. Lightning in a Bottle is no ordinary music festival. It’s not like Sasquatch or…

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What I’ve Learned from Two Years of Writing Full-Time

Two years ago, I quit my job as a winemaker to become a full-time writer. I had plans to stay in the wine industry intermittently, particularly during the busy harvest season, but my goal was to dedicate myself to writing full-time during the off-season. I can say with confidence that I’ve done that. In the…

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A Meditation on Lunch, or, Why You Should Eat Alone Sometimes

I work at home. My partner works at a winery in the area, so except for the rare occasion once a month or so when he comes home midday, I eat lunch alone every day. Lunch is an opportunity to break up the day’s tasks. Usually I try to get a certain amount of editing…

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Why it’s Totally Okay if You Haven’t Read My Books (and Why it’s Almost Always Okay to Not Read Someone’s Book)

Sometimes when I run into acquaintances or old friends, people I’ve stayed in touch with via social media, one of the first things I hear is “I’m sorry I haven’t read your books yet!” My response is usually something like, “Why are you sorry? It’s not your job to read my books.” I’m constantly surprised…

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The Literary Libations Secret: How to Pair Famous Books with Great Drinks, Explained with Funny Gifs and Sample Pairings

LITERARY LIBATIONS, the book I’m working on, is great fun because it allows me to spend a lot of time doing two of my favorite things in the world: reading and drinking. But writing drink pairings for famous books isn’t as easy as tossing back a cocktail or two, sitting in a leather armchair, and…

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Literary Libations: For Whom The Bell Tolls

Check it out! The newest episode of the Literary Libations video series is out today. You’ll find out what to drink when you sit down with Ernest Hemingway’s FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS, and you might even learn something about Hemingway himself. Enjoy!

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New Book Alert! LITERARY LIBATIONS to Be Published by Skyhorse Press

It is my great pleasure to announce that my forthcoming LITERARY LIBATIONS: WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU READ has been contracted for publication by Skyhorse Press in Fall of 2018!

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7 Words You Should Delete From Your Manuscript

“In this post, I’ve included a few words that most professional writers and editors will cut as often as possible. You can use this post as a guide to identify overused words in your own writing and cut them out to make your work clearer and more concise.”

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