It has been hard to settle down and return to writing these last few weeks. I returned from my book tour at the beginning of October, and...

In my most recent post, I described some of the downsides of trying to do a book tour on my own with no help from my publisher except for...

Road trips can be great. With no deadlines, plenty of flexibility, plenty of money, and a car that’s fun to drive, they can bring out a...

When I left Sioux Falls and started driving across the broad, khaki-colored prairies, I assumed my book tour was over. I had emailed the...

The finest book events on my book tour have been those that were set up by friends, friends of friends, family members, or bookstores in...

I have talked with a number of book clubs about The Rebel Nun via Zoom as it came out after Covid hit, but my first in-person one came...

I had planned a couple of bookstore stops as I headed away from events in the center of Iowa. Inexplicably, a bookstore in Cedar Rapids...

As I was “growing up” in Iowa (never did get too tall), my family spent many Sundays at The Ledges State Park, where I learned to love a...

STORY CITY, IOWA--As I was fighting drowsiness on my drive from Lawrence, Kansas, to central Iowa, I kept wondering if I was foolish in...

I emailed about 50 independent bookstores as I prepared to tour the West and Midwest this past month to promote The Rebel Nun. Most of...

Did you ever arrive at an appointment with someone you’d never met before, and the second you saw his or her face, you knew they weren’t...

When I told my brother I was coming to Denver to visit independent bookstores, he suggested I contact West Side Books, a store in the...

While we vacationed in Ridgway, CO, waiting for my book tour to begin, my friend Janet came down from her home in Colorado Springs to go...

I love my Ford Explorer. It is 23 years old and roomy. I’m as comfortable in it as I am in my favorite reading chair at home. And I can...

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to be on a book tour? Whether you are a writer or a reader, the thought may have occurred to...

I've become a bit of a curmudgeon lately, reviewing most books I read tepidly, and only occasionally sharing one that I truly love. This...

The coolest people in the world, without a doubt, are independent bookstore owners and their staff. Among them are Brian and Amy Exstrum,...

This post originally ran in the Riverside Press Enterprise, July 25,2021, as one of the column for Inlandia Institute. It seems like a...

A Hand to Hold in Deep Water by Shawn Nocher It is hard to believe, in a way, that this is Shawn Nocher’s first novel. It is so...

It's been a good month for reading for me. I spent the past four weeks at an artist colony residency where I wrote the first "shitty...