It was early fall, just three weeks after my daughter had the cast removed from her right arm when she managed to break the left one. Both times were from horseback riding falls. She’s a skilled rider, but horses are big and she’s small and—as we had been warned—falls happen. Concerned relatives and friends politely suggested that we steer her toward a different, less bone-damaging sport. I know they were all thinking of Christopher Reeve. I tried not to think of Christopher

We in the I BURIED PAUL camp are starting to get super excited for our June 14th pub date. Are we really a “camp?” you ask, with a tad too much snark. Full disclosure: We can’t afford a team of industry billionaires to bully skeptical readers into submission. Nor can we offer cabins on a lake. So, what’s our angle? In lieu of lobbyists and jet skis, Camp I Buried Paul offers a Beatles-inspired experience that explores the vicissitudes of the creative life and how that life is

I BURIED PAUL is about a musician struggling to make a living in a creative landscape that has been devalued by the internet and the pseudo-populist notion that art should be free. Despite the increasing hardship and ridiculous odds, the music plays on, because those who are captivated by its magic can’t walk away – the notes are in their blood. Somehow, they figure out a way to cobble together an assortment of different jobs (some musical, some not) to pay the bills, so they

Walking down our street yesterday I noticed a hole in the ground where there should have been a house. It took a moment to register that it was the site of a “tear down,” a concept unfamiliar to the English. We love nothing more than to renovate, but rarely from the ground up, we like to have something to work with, we strive for what the French call ‘benign neglect.’ I’ve always fallen in love with the potential of a place rather than the reality of it. I would gaze fondly a

I just finished another trip around the sun (they seem to come annually for some reason), and to the extent it was a bit of a numerical milestone, it certainly got me thinking about things that matter. I like living in this world, despite all its faults. When I am immersed in places like Yosemite Valley and looking up at Half Dome, I have less desire than ever to partake in meta. Learning how to navigate in this reality has never lost its appeal to me. Being an avatar in a vi

Trigger warning for mentions of domestic violence. If you are in an abusive situation, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. Our theme this month of writer thankfulness, and I have more to be thankful for than most. I'm thankful for books. Because one saved my life. When people ask me why I started writing, I lie. I tell them that I had an idea that wouldn’t let me go. And that’s true, as far as it goes. But the reason it wouldn’t let me go

Yes, I'm on my soapbox again . . . and yes, about one of my favorite topics. CRISPR is a gene editor that uses bacterium to splice into DNA. Incredibly, this thing can target specific genes, and replace the code with new code. This is such a significant discovery that universities and companies are fighting over the patent rights. In the meantime, we go right along with thinking of new ways to use this monstrosity. Wow! Who is overseeing this worldwide? I keep saying no one.

My wife and I have four children—four wonderfully different children—and since the moment each of them learned to walk, they’ve been taught that dreams can (and do) come true. As part of that lesson plan, they’ve also been schooled on the following: We don’t always get what we wish for, but we do get what we work for. Luck is merely the place where opportunity meets preparation. And opportunity often disguises itself as a mix of hard work and true perseverance. Quite simply:

Restlessness. It’s a force that has driven research papers, inspired literature, informed film, and, in real-life situations, has ripped apart families, ended jobs, and launched fanciful and ill-fated dreams by the millions. A worthy topic, no? ​Here’s one small slice: In my primary career, that of a print journalist, I worked for ten newspapers (1) in seven states (2) over the course of twenty-five years (1988 to 2013). The shortest stint in a job was three months (hello, Th

So you’ve finally published your novel after two painstaking years of work, and you set off on the adventure into the unknown of being a published author. It’s super exciting. The big publication day arrives and your book becomes available online for people to buy. It may not seem like a big change in the world at large, but everything has changed in your world as you’ve become a published author. So what comes next in the being published adventure? I’m two months in so I’m h