The pros and cons of Christmas pro shopping
In life there are two kinds of people: those who start shopping for Christmas Dec. 26 of the previous year, and those who wait...
We can’t be forever 15
Nothing will knock you out of a navel-gazing haze of self-indulgence over rapidly advancing age -- "Wait? What's that? Another wrinkle?" -- quite like...
School trip is growing experience — for me
Our sixth-grade son, Wonderboy, has gone to camp. Camp being yet another thing the school district cooked up specifically to test me.
Much like...
I’m the boss of me, the slacker
The best thing about the writing life is, of course, the commute — mainly that there isn’t one. I work from home. I can,...
Every child should have a barn
It is often said that every boy should have a dog. That does sound nice. What I truly believe, however, is that every boy...
But wait! There’s not more
Remember when the news was newsworthy?News, of course, is anything you learn that you didn't know before. Using that definition almost anything is technically...
The “I don’t mean to be mean” girls
There is a point in life when you realize that you never do, in fact, outgrow high school. Worse, you never really get over...
Let there be light
How many mystery writers does it take to screw in a light bulb? Two: One to screw it almost all the way in and...
Marital immunity? Scratch that
As we tally the final numbers at summer's end, we find that with the arrival of cooler weather goes what little hope we had...
Apology and the fine art of making one
I don't, as a rule, look to celebrities to serve as role models for my children. I'm not generally on the lookout for anyone...
