John A. Heldt

The middle book in a series almost always gets lost in the shuffle. It is like the sixth floor of a ten-story building or the third leg in a...

As I wrote here in February 2015 , I'm a plotter, not a pantser. I plan every book — and every series — in great detail before writing a...

The saying 'George Washington slept here' has long morphed into a cliché. Tourism officials and realtors use it to lure visitors to ...

Lao Tzu, a Chinese philosopher, once said, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." I can relate. One does not g...

It was different this time. Instead of getting an early morning telephone call that took me by surprise, I got one I expected. I learned tha...

I did not need much coaxing. When I learned that a companion series to 1883 and Yellowstone was streaming, I put the offering on my watch ...

As battles go, it wasn't very decisive. Two armies met, two fought, and two left the field. As in baseball, the tie went to the runner. ...

There is nothing quite like it. Holding a grandchild for the first time is like holding a child for the first time. It is a joyful, meaningf...

I never read my books after they are published. I occasionally update errors I discover or that readers point out, but I never read a book a...

Playwright George Bernard Shaw advised that you should not "wait for perfect conditions" to begin an undertaking. You should inste...

As I posted in May, I am always in a history mood. As a reader and a TV viewer, I go out of my way to find a good story set in the past. S...

I have long had a fascination with the American Revolution . When I was eight, I latched onto The Young Rebels , a one-hit-wonder television...

It's never easy. As many people have observed over the years, losing a beloved pet is like losing a family member. You lose not only a c...

On Independence Day, many Americans attend patriotic parades, have picnics, and watch colorful fireworks shows well into the night. (And som...

I don't know wine. To me, a good vintage is one that's in the clearance aisle at the supermarket. Beer is my beverage of choice. O...

He was not the most glamorous founder. Or the most charismatic. Or even the most admirable. His most notable initiative as president, the Al...

As a television viewer, I am always in a history mood. I don't care if a movie or series covers the French Revolution or the Vietnam War...

Living in the Mojave Desert, I don't see a lot of waterfowl, but I did the other day. While on a walk through my subdivision, I encounte...

I admit I haven't read Oliver Twist . I haven't even seen the 1968 movie , the one that won six Oscars, including Best Picture. Ev...

The book will be a big one. With a projected length of 142,000 words, it will be bigger even than River Rising and The Memory Tree , the we...

Since publishing The Mine , my first novel, more than twelve years ago, I have focused mostly on producing ebooks -- for obvious reasons. Eb...

I don't normally go barefoot while wearing a suit, but I did just that on Saturday when I married off my son, Matthew, on a beach. Along...

I first learned about artificial intelligence (AI) in the seventh grade. While reading " EPICAC ," a short story by Kurt Vonnegut,...

I have never been to Philadelphia. Once, in 1984, while driving with a college friend from Connecticut to Washington, D.C., I entered the ci...

The road ahead looks different now. Three weeks into retirement, it looks more like Nevada's Route 50, the "loneliest road in Ameri...

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 ...