John A. Heldt

I started as a paperboy. Sometime in 1974, at the ripe old age of 12, I began delivering the Seattle Times in a suburban subdivision that c...

The trilogy is now ten days old. The Duties and Dreams ebook came out November 9, the paperback yesterday. Even the Second Chance boxed s...

Be careful what you wish for. The warning, from The Old Man and Death , one of Aesop's Fables, is one of the oldest themes in literat...

For an obvious reason, I rarely watch a television series twice. A series, unlike a movie or even a book, represents a serious investment in...

It took a while — three months, to be exact — but I finished ahead of schedule. With a final burst on Friday, I finished the first draft of ...

The subtitle tipped me off. Preceded by an asterisk, it told me most of what I needed to know about a riveting comedy series. I say most —...

For some, Alsace is a backwater. Tucked in a remote corner of France, next to Germany and Switzerland, it is a region often overlooked by tr...

For authors, summer is supposed to be the quiet season. It is supposed to be the time we set work aside, take rejuvenating vacations, and ta...

I've been in a dog mood lately. My last dog, Mocha, passed away six years ago, and I miss her terribly. Because of circumstances — Las V...

If I have learned one thing as a parent, it is never to underestimate. Children with drive will find ways to succeed and shine. They will no...

In the beginning, it was my go-to venue, the place where the Northwest Passage series developed. Washington state was a secondary setting i...

The second act is usually the most difficult to write. In literature, as in life, it is the tough center of a story, the important and somet...

Of all the tools and techniques I employ as a writer, it is the one I use the most. When I experience writer's block, I take a walk. I...

The draft is done! At 128,700 words, it is a bit smaller than projected, but it is still big. Annie's Apple , the second book in the Sec...

The book, now seventy percent complete, is going to be a big one. With 90 chapters and a projected 132,000 words, it will trail only The Mem...

It is the gold standard of tragedies. For more than 110 years, the sinking of the RMS Titanic has inspired books, movies, and conspiracy th...

This year was like the proverbial month of March. It came in like a lion and is going out like a lamb. That's fine with me. After ten ye...

Fourteen chapters are done. Two more are planned this week. Though they make up just a fraction of the ninety I have outlined in my notes, t...

I admit I did not read the novel , the one by Jules Verne, or see the movie , the one that won Best Picture in 1956, but I have always been ...

Like a lot of history buffs, I have a fascination with World War I. I have read the books, seen the movies, and featured the war as a backdr...

As an American, I'm not a big fan of royals or aristocrats. I tend to view blue bloods with indifference or amusement. As a television...

I am a relative stranger to New York. I have visited the city only once, at least at length, and know it mostly through movies and televisio...

I should have known this would happen. When I sample a riveting miniseries, I never stop at the pilot. I binge watch the whole thing -- in w...

In golf, it's called a mulligan. In life, it's called a second shot. It is another opportunity to correct a mistake, restore a relat...

If there is one thing I enjoy about writing fiction, it is pointing a spotlight at other works of fiction. In several of my twenty publishe...

I didn't quite finish within Stephen King's recommended limit of 90 days, but I finished nonetheless. The first draft of The Fountai...