Firewater’s Vignette #4: Racist Road Trip

When I volunteered to help open a new Target store about twenty years ago—as a seasoned logistics manager, no less—I met Tony. He was assigned as the hardlines manager. For those who don’t speak fluent Target (especially vintage Target from two decades ago), here’s how the store hierarchy worked back then. At the top, you […]

“Onboarding,” by Firewater — a short story

From a distance, Todd Vesprin—the regional HR director for Rhine-Mart—looked every inch the thin white duke: ramrod posture, tailored suit, gravity-defying blond quiff, and the petroleum smile of a game show host. But as John Downey, the new general manager of Store #1030, crossed the parking lot, his first impression shifted. Vesprin had the hair, […]

A Model of My Mind in My House (The Library Closet)

this is not my library closet—well, not exactly I’ve always believed that a writer’s library is a reflection of the writer—almost a visual model of the writer’s mind. This belief isn’t based on any deep research or study; it’s just one of those things you hear somewhere and think, Yeah, that sounds about right. If […]

Looking Forward (February 2026): First Brain Inventory Since 2025

This is the quadmonthly happiness report for February 2026. Our belief here at FirewaterCorp is that happiness is defined as always having something to look forward to. In our world, choices in entertainment play a huge role in this pursuit. Our company motto is “Read. Play. Watch. Listen.” And then, of course: “Write About It.” […]

In the Writers Room (with Firewater) #18: Kill ‘Em All on the Page (where to dig up your fictional villains)

My relationship with my blood family is complicated. I don’t think I’m unique in that. Most of us carry some mixture of love, resentment, and bewilderment when we think about where we came from. And if you’re a writer, all that baggage has to go somewhere. For me, it went straight into my villains. My […]

Writing Novel #5: work-in-progress update

This isn’t a new idea. That’s probably the first thing worth saying. I believe I got about a hundred pages into this novel in the early 1990s, back when I was still writing on an electric typewriter. That was after I’d leveled up from the manual Remington I used in college, which made me feel, […]

Firewater’s Vignette #3: Write What You Know

He had been staring at the blank page for hours, and the blank page had begun to stare back. Everyone says write what you know. The problem was, the only thing he knew at the moment was that he couldn’t write. His chest felt heavy, as though something heavy sat on him. His thoughts were […]

“Burying the Future,” by Firewater — a short story

Jim Hilliard left the lab early because his head felt wrong—foggy and too loud, like someone’s radio had been tuned between stations. He told himself it was the flu coming on. His crew had been working third shift to minimize the influence of background noise, temperature fluctuations and even vibrations from daytime traffic on their […]

In the Writers Room (with Firewater) #17: Borrowing King’s Toolbox

This is my sneaky little way of dropping a quick review of Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000). King’s book is part memoir, part how-to, and part “holy crap, he survived a drunk driver.” He takes you from his scrappy, dirt-poor childhood to the Carrie grind, then the fame explosion—sprinkled with […]

The Future is Still Being Written (setting out on a new journey after completing the last)

On the day I began writing this sentence—Saturday, December 13, 2025—I finished the rewrites of my speculative fiction novel Arcadia Lake. The manuscript now stands at 426 pages, just over 95,700 words. When I started the rewrites, my goal was to get the book down to 94,000 words. I didn’t quite hit that number, but […]

In Defense of the Bean (Me and Balzac and successive cups of coffee)

Honoré de Balzac, the French novelist, is best known for La Comédie humaine, a monumental series about post-Napoleonic life in France. I’ve never read it. Everything I’ve heard makes it sound like the sort of book teachers assigned to prove life was suffering before television. Balzac’s work influenced Dickens, Proust, Flaubert, and Henry James—basically the […]

For All Intensive Porpoises: A Celebration of Glorious Word Blunders

Words are the bricks and mortar of a writer’s trade. I love them. In fact, I believe that written language—whatever the language—is a kind of magic. Our words can travel far into the future, long after we’re gone. We’re still reading The Epic of Gilgamesh, for goodness’ sake. And because I’m a confessed word nerd, […]

Filling the Gaps (Or: a brief digression about Sugarland Express, the Kardashians, Henry David Thoreau, and the Relentless March Toward Mental Clarity)

I recently got around to watching Sugarland Express—Steven Spielberg’s first feature film, released in 1974. Which is to say, I’m a man of action and impeccable timing. It only took me 50 years. I’d recorded it from TCM because, as someone who considers himself a Spielberg fan, I thought, “Well, it’s probably time I finish […]

In the Writers Room (with Firewater) #16: Em Dash Jazz

We either never spent much time talking about em dashes when I was in school, or I just wasn’t listening. I’ve used them while writing over the years—without knowing they had an actual name—but only recently have I fully embraced their power. Some of you may be asking, “What on Earth is an em dash?” […]

“Bad Apples,” by Firewater — a short story

Lottie Hambeck had begun to suspect that her neighbor across the road was what her mother would have called a Bad Apple. Her home sat in what used to be the country, though over the years the land had been carved into large residential lots—two or three acres apiece, each affording plenty of privacy. Thanks […]

The Ongoing Unwritten Bucket List: (Or, a brief digression about unfinished business, life experiences, “Write What You Know,” and why I call myself a painter, musician and songwriter as well as a writer)

It turns out I had a bucket list long before I ever heard the term bucket list. I know, I’ve probably talked (maybe too much, but that’s subjective) about the list my forever wife and I made—to visit all fifty US states before we died. We did that one already, and neither of us is […]

Things Learned While Looking Up Other Things: The Master of Useless Information

Sometimes, I accidentally learn things. Some of those sometimes, I actually remember what I’ve learned, even if the knowledge is inconsequential or widely perceived as having little value. This, my friends, is the definition of “trivia.” My wife once told me that I am the Master of Useless Information. I’m thinking about having that title […]

In the Writers Room (with Firewater) #15: Inciting Incident

I will admit that I never had a master plan when I began writing this series of posts. I made a list of potential topics that I felt I could talk about with some intelligence. I am a fiction writer, and I’ve picked up a trick or two along the way. If you’re also a […]

10-List: Ten Well-Known Southern (US) Expressions

I was born and raised in the Southern United States, and that’s still where I live. You’d think it would be easy for me to come up with ten Southern idiomatic sayings or words. And it was. Maybe too easy. Because I am a Southerner, I wasn’t sure if the eighty words and phrases I […]

The Three Ages of Firewater (what Aristotle knew about dramatic structure)

The second act is always the longest. That’s where most of life happens—right in the messy, sprawling middle. It’s where the milestones stack up like bricks. Getting married. Getting divorced. Getting re-married. Having children. Raising them through their own first acts, and then, if all goes well, releasing them into the world to stumble through […]

“Accidents & Natural Causes,” by Firewater — a short story

The words were lettered across the plate-glass window of the little storefront: Accidents & Natural Causes. Below it, in smaller type: Martin Kletch — Agent. Detective Bud Warner pushed through the door. The OPEN sign blinked; a pleasant two-toned bleat from the electronic annunciator announced him. The waiting area was spare — mismatched plastic chairs, […]

Firewater Work-in-Progress (First Chapter): Arcadia Lake

I write a lot about writing on WordPress but rarely post original fiction. Like every other irrational author out there, I believe all of my ideas are original and irresistible to all the plagiarists out there. The truth is that everything is derivative, and there is nothing new under the sun. This chapter is essentially […]

In the Writers Room (with Firewater) #14: Let It Mellow

We writers are emotionally complicated humans. Well, most of us are humans. No offense to the other writing species out there. I mean, how many of our pets have their own blogs? But we are, though. Emotionally complicated, I mean. We go from loving to hating every word that we write. And the switch is […]

Back in Black. With a Capital B.

There are few things people look forward to less than an older white man’s opinion about race—especially the linguistics of race. If you’ve read my posts, you know I generally steer clear of controversial topics. Yes, I’ve written a little about religion, where I self-identify as a Christian, while also admitting there’s little evidence a […]

Breakfast for Dinner: a satirical stroll through culinary timing

Someone had to speak out about this. Someone had to take a stand. Let’s talk about “breakfast for dinner.” Like “jumbo shrimp” or “military intelligence,” it folds neatly into that dusty file labeled linguistic betrayal. It’s technically accurate, sure—but it also makes about as much sense as naming your pet goldfish “Dog” and insisting that’s […]

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