"Nothing says summer more than a roadside, fiberglass dinosaur."

I love roadside attractions. I have no choice but stop when a shack on the side of the highway promises to turn physics upside down, and I don't think I've ever passed a fiberglass dinosaur without dragging out the camera.

I spent the spring of 2004 driving all across Texas with my wife, taking pictures and researching roadside attractions for the Dallas Morning News. It's a big state with some strange attractions. One of my favorite writing assignments to date.

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My first travel article was written for the Dallas Morning News after a layoff. I had no travel writing experience, but the opportunity to write about a location I'd wanted to visit since childhood was all the motivation I needed.

The research involved enhanced the experience. Had I not been working on an article, I would have never known--and discovered--so many interesting facts about the area. I would have never guessed Caddo Lake once boasted a thriving pearl industry and was the site of the United States' first offshore oil drilling platform.

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I come up with a lot of ideas for stories while traveling. Whether it's thinking things through while driving, time spent in hotels, or stumbling upon some unexpected inspiration, getting away from home can help a writer focus.

"The Write Trip" is an article I wrote to help writers find inspiration, begin travel writing, and learn how to find local flair for their fiction by traveling to the actual locations in their stories. Even a long weekend in a hotel to get away from the usual desk and refocus goes a long way.

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My first interview was with Xeric Grant-winning cartoonist, Jeremy Smith. Jeremy is a self-taught artist who delivers pizzas and draws comic strips.

In a world of computer graphic artists, Jeremy is an increasing rarity--an old school artist with ink bottles and antique pen nibs. Jeremy passes on the commercial jobs in pursuit of his life-long dream: becoming a syndicated cartoonist.

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Approximately 8% of all adults in the United States have Type 2 diabetes, and in the future, those numbers are expected to skyrocket. For most people, Type 2 diabetes is preventable...with the right diet.

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My first novel is a humorous coming-of-age story about a family traveling cross country in a possessed station wagon.

I plan to podcast Hell Comes With Wood Paneled Doors in August '07.

Podcast Information

Promise is about a recently divorced celebrity chef who moves to a small, northern Wisconsintown inhabited by artists, professional wrestlers, murderers, and poisonous, cave-dwelling beetles.

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My father wasn't the greatest role model. When he died and family sorted his belongs, it was clear where some of his income came from. It didn't surprise me, though; I knew what he'd been up to since I was ten.

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Old Man is about a sixteen-year-old who assumes the role of an old man in an attempt to connect with his dying grandfather. After his grandfather dies, he slides deeper into his facade.

Old Man was considered by Warner Brothers and Castle Rock Entertainment.

The very first story I ever submitted for publication is also the first story I had accepted.

"It's an Okay Life" is the story of a down-and-out person about to commit suicide and the angel that intervenes.

The independent super hero series the New York Times News Service called, "The raw essence of the super hero genre, fused with the attitude of classic film noir. A heady combination and a splendid book!"

Second Rate Heroes was about a group of ordinary people with super powers, focusing as much on the day-to-day stories of the characters as on knockdown, super-powered battles.