Carter Wilson's Blog

Expanse, Colorado. A mountain town at 7,000 feet. Population 313. Most of them are hiding from something.

Including Annie Wolfe and her twelve-year-old daughter, Coral.

Years ago in Miami, Annie did something she can’t outrun. Since then, she’s been waiting. New names. No friends. No social life. Homeschooling for Coral. A safe room with a steel hatch.

Two days before Christmas, her past finally catches up.

Only it’s not what she expected.

The people who show up during a blizzard aren’t there for her. A father and his two adult children. All of them on the run. They don’t think they’re fugitives. They believe they’re on a migration. Devoted to something primal. Dangerous. And they’ve come to Expanse hunting the man they believe ruined their lives.

They’ve got the wrong house.

Over the next five hours, inside a remote mountain cabin cut off by snow, only one story is going to survive.

I’m beyond thrilled to introduce you to my 11th thriller, When They Find Me. It’s out everywhere on November 10th. You’ll be hearing a lot more from me about this book, but go ahead and pre-order now! Every time you pre-order a book, an angel gets its wings (and a demon gets punched in the nuts).

Learn More and Pre-Order

New episodes of my podcast Making It Up are out! Over the past month, I chatted with:

Episode 227: Michael Kardos
Award-winning author of multiple novels and a Pushcart Prize–winning short story writer, Michael and I talked about his path from music to writing, craft books, and why writing a novel often means sitting with discomfort. We closed by making up a strange story inspired by Kristen Perrin’s How To Solve Your Own Murder.

Episode 226: Amy Meyerson
Internationally bestselling author of The Bookshop of Yesterdays, Amy and I talked about using audiobooks to sharpen your writing, being intentional with language, and her move into psychological suspense. We wrapped by making up a story inspired by Stephen Graham Jones’s Mongrels.

Episode 225: Ryan Steck & Simon Gervais
Ryan, founder of The Real Book Spy, and Simon, a former federal agent and bestselling thriller author, joined me to talk about outlining, co-writing with different voices, and writing in a second language. We ended by making up a dark story inspired by Matt Goldman’s The Murder Show.

Episode 224: Jen J. Danna
Author of multiple thriller series and a former infectious diseases researcher, Jen and I talked about the long road to writing full-time, managing a high-output schedule, and revisiting earlier work. We closed by making up a story inspired by John Jakes’s Love and War.

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

Here’s where you can find me in the next couple of months! Check my website calendar for all my events and latest updates. All listed times are local.

April 24-25, 2026
Bookapalooza
Speaker/Panelist
Mooresville, North Carolina

May 5-9, 2026
Thrillerfest
Speaker/Panelist
Craftfest Instructor
New York, New York

May 26, 2026 5:30PM
In Conversation with Joshua Moehling
Tattered Cover Aspen Grove

Littleton, Colorado

June 5-7, 2026
Big Ohio Book Con
Headlining Author
Medina, Ohio

June 17, 2026 4PM-6PM
Lighthouse Lit Fest
Instructor: “Writing Thrillers”
Denver, Colorado

REVIEWS 

On the Screen

I’m watching SO MUCH SHIT right now. Of course I’m reading as well, but wanted to do a rapid-fire review session of all the goodness on my screen.

Task (HBO)

I’m really enjoying this one. It’s a limited series that on paper feels familiar, but Mark Ruffalo is so good, and the cast around him elevates everything. The story leans more into emotion than action, which gives it weight and makes it a surprisingly strong watch.

Survivor Season 50 (CBS/Paramount Plus)
Have I ever told you how obsessed I am with Survivor? It’s my go-to when I want to shut my brain off, and I’ll even throw on old seasons just to relax. I thought season 50 would be total camp, and it is at times, but it’s also the most I’ve seen a cast and host genuinely enjoying themselves. Worth a watch.

Paradise (Season 2) (Hulu)
I mostly enjoyed season one of Paradise, even if a couple characters made me want to bite through sheet metal. I wasn’t sure I’d stick with season two, but it’s been a pleasant surprise, especially with some of the side stories and performances. That said, every time they cut back to certain characters, my blood still boils. If you watched season one, it’s worth continuing so far. (update since I wrote this: just watched the episode titled “Jane” and I’m back to hating this show.)

Jury Duty: Company Retreat (Prime)
This is a gem. I loved Jury Duty so much I’ve watched it twice, and this keeps that same setup where one person has no idea the whole thing is staged. This time it all plays out at a company retreat, which somehow makes it even more uncomfortable. If you love awkward, this is a must-see.

Untold: Chess Mates (Netflix)
I just watched this and loved it. It’s a tight, hour-and-fifteen-minute look at a cheating scandal that rocked the chess world, which doesn’t sound that exciting, but it really is. In the end, it reminds you that every story still comes down to people, and every story has a hero and a villain. And, in this story, anal beads.

Roof Man (Netflix)
Based on the true story of a fugitive who hid out in a Toys “R” Us, this sounds like a fun, ridiculous premise, but it goes deeper than you’d expect. Channing Tatum is fantastic, and the film ends up being more emotional than the title suggests. Not quite the light watch you might expect, but still worth it.

Photo of the Month

I was in NYC and stopped to take a photo of this ginormous stuffed cat. Then when I looked later I saw an ICE agent in the photo. Then a friend pointed out it’s just an electrical worker from an unfortunately named company. Weird picture all around.

Update from my Kids
This is a self-serving post, but my daughter was also in NYC (an unrelated trip from mine) and texted me to say she spotted my book in Strand Book Store. So prestigious!

Update from my Pets

Look. Just look at that seething rage.

Programming Note
I’ve just refreshed my website ahead of the new book, thanks to the brilliant web-development team at Xuni.com. I tend to update the look and feel with each release, and they absolutely nailed this one.

I’ve also added a new section focused on my work as a speaker, interviewer, and teacher. If you’re looking for someone for an event, workshop, or conversation, I’m now booking across all three.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

I’ll be teaching The Visible Writer in person at CraftFest during ThrillerFest in New York City, and I’m also offering it as a live online workshop on May 30th if you’re not able to make it out there.

For a long time, writers were told the work should speak for itself. That idea doesn’t hold up anymore. Readers follow voices they connect with, and in a crowded, content-heavy world, what stands out is the person behind the work. The way you show up matters!

This class is about figuring out how to do that in a way that feels natural to you. We’ll talk through practical ways to build visibility without forcing it, including how to use newsletters and your website to create real connection, how to lean into conversation and curiosity to open doors, and how to get more comfortable speaking in public without sounding scripted. If you’re trying to build something long-term as a writer, this will give you a clear direction for how to show up and be seen. 

May 30, 12–2pm MT. $75.

Learn More and Register

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

One of the questions I get asked a lot at events is a simple one:

Who are you reading right now?

Or sometimes: Which writers influenced you the most?

It’s a perfectly reasonable question. And every time someone asks it, I feel a tiny flash of stress. Maybe more than a tiny flash.

Because the honest answer is that I wasn’t a very good reader when I was young. In fact, I sucked at it.

I read what I had to read. High school assigned things like The Crucible. Or, god help me, Anna Karenina. Reading was homework. Reading was… work.

When I did read for fun, it tended to be things like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Or Bloom County cartoon books. Humor from Monty Python and Dave Barry. Nothing serious.

I did discover Stephen King pretty early, which in hindsight probably explains a lot about where my writing eventually went. I remember reading Pet Sematary when I was maybe thirteen and staying a week at my grandparents’ house. It scared the shit out of me. The book, not the visit.

But compared to many writers I meet today, I wasn’t the kid with my nose buried in books. I wasn’t the English major devouring novels in college. I was a hospitality major. Reading for pleasure during those years was pretty much nonexistent.

And yet somewhere along the way, something shifted.

In my twenties I moved to San Francisco. I was living alone and didn’t have much money, which meant entertainment options were limited. There was a used bookstore near my apartment, and I developed a very simple purchasing strategy: buy the fattest books I could find.

More pages meant more hours of entertainment for the same price.

That’s when I discovered books like the unabridged version of The Stand. I got into the massive James Clavell novels. Shōgun absolutely wrecked me in the best possible way. I devoured series by John Jakes and Robert Ludlum. I read every short story written by Poe, and then each of Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. I learned from Cormac McCarthy that sentences don’t even have to make sense to gut you, and The Road remains my favorite piece of fiction.

I started to realize that books could do something I hadn’t fully appreciated before. They could completely take over your life for a while.

I read consistently until I turned thirty-three, which is when I began writing. And a funny thing happened in the years after that: my tastes turned to nonfiction.

I love narrative history. Anything by Erik Larson or Ben Macintyre will get my attention immediately. I also gravitate toward books about corporate disasters, political intrigue, espionage, and the occasional brutally honest memoir. Give me a Douglas Brunt, a Michael Lewis, a Karen Abbott.

So when I’m in a room with other writers and the conversation turns to which thrillers everyone’s reading or which new novel just came out in the genre, I sometimes feel a little out of step.

A lot of writers are incredible readers of contemporary fiction. They’re deeply immersed in the current landscape of their genre. Many of them studied literature in college. They can trace clear lines between the writers who influenced them and the books they write today.

Yeah. Not me.

Of course I read fiction nearly every day. Mostly thrillers I’m blurbing that haven’t been released yet, or whatever happens to catch my interest. But I also spend a lot of time reading about history, psychology, scandals, espionage operations, and people making catastrophic decisions while convinced they’re the smartest person in the room.

And honestly, those books probably influence my writing more than fiction does.

Because stories are everywhere. They aren’t limited to novels. Some of the most unbelievable narratives you’ll ever encounter are buried in nonfiction accounts of real events.

The other thing I’ve learned over time is that there isn’t a correct reading background for becoming a writer.

Some writers grow up devouring books from the moment they can read. Others discover them later in life. Some stay almost entirely within their genre. Others bounce all over the place.

The common thread isn’t what you read. It’s that at some point you fall in love with storytelling.

For me, it happened slowly:

A used bookstore in San Francisco.
A massive Stephen King novel.
A thirteen-volume set of Edgar Allan Poe.

A growing realization that stories could create entire worlds inside your head.

Everything else came after that.

And I’m still reading.

Just maybe not the way people expect.

New episodes of my podcast Making It Up are out! Over the past month, I chatted with:

Episode 224: Clémence Michallon

Clémence Michallon is the author of the international bestselling thriller The Quiet Tenant and the follow-up novel Our Last Resort. She’s also an accomplished journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Time Magazine, and Cosmopolitan UK. We talked about forcing yourself to be bored to spark creativity, how journalism training shapes the way you approach storytelling, and why neither of us ever writes the words “The End.” We closed by making up a creepy story inspired by a line from Tana French’s The Searcher.

Episode 223: Joseph Finder

Joseph Finder is the New York Times bestselling author of seventeen suspense novels and a true master of the modern thriller. His books have won the Strand Critics Award, the Barry Award, and the ITW Thriller Award, and two have been adapted into major motion pictures, including High Crimes and Paranoia. We talked about writing about what you want to learn, how the publishing landscape has become more difficult for debut authors, and what it’s like getting blurbed by Stephen King. We wrapped by making up a tense story inspired by a line from King’s Just After Sunset.

Episode 222: Gregg Hurwitz

Gregg Hurwitz is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of twenty-seven thrillers, including the hugely popular Orphan X series. In addition to novels, Gregg has written screenplays, television scripts, comics for DC and Marvel, and even helped write the opening ceremony of the 2022 World Cup. We talked about writing as a compulsion, Gregg’s experience getting published while still in college, and learning which feedback to trust when working on a manuscript. We ended by making up a suspenseful story inspired by a line from Joseph Heller’s Catch-22.

Episode 221: Wendy Walker

Wendy Walker is the bestselling author of psychological thrillers including Don’t Look for Me, The Night Before, and All Is Not Forgotten. Her newest book, Blade, draws on her past as a competitive figure skater and marks a major creative shift in her career. We talked about finally writing the story that’s been living in your head for years, how immersive storytelling is changing the audiobook world, and why hiring help as an author isn’t a luxury but a strategy. We closed by making up a very strange story about furries using a sentence from a Karin Slaughter novel.

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

Here’s a snapshot where you can find me! Check my website calendar for the links and latest updates. All listed times are local.

This was a fun one.

Part one of a two-part event had me leading a panel with some of Colorado’s best writers: Mark Stevens, Kristin Koval, Mario Acevedo, Jon Bassoff, and Cynthia Swanson. Smart, generous, funny. Some a bit deranged.

Then I had the chance to sit down with #1 New York Times bestselling suspense author and my friend, Lisa Gardner. We talked craft, career, and how she stays at the top of her game after 30 years and 30 books.

Huge thanks to Sean Eads and the Jefferson County Library system for putting together such thoughtful programming and for reminding everyone books matter. And they made wonderful detective badges for all of us! And thanks to Rebecca Rowley and Jessica Bonosoro for the great pics.

REVIEWS 

On the Page

Close Call, Elise Hart Kipness (2025)

Have I not talked about this book here yet? Shame on me. Elise is a good friend and one of those writers who really understands how to build tension and keep a mystery intensifying page by page.

Close Call is the third entry in her Kate Green mystery/suspense series following Lights Out and Dangerous Play. Elise spent years covering professional sports as a journalist, and that experience gives the story a really authentic backdrop in the world of sports media and professional tennis. It’s always fun seeing how another thriller writer builds suspense, and Elise keeps tightening the screws as the mystery unfolds. By the time Kate realizes how dangerous the story really is, she’s already too deep to walk away.

On the Screen

Steal (Prime Video)

I’ve said this before, but one of the reasons I love British series is that they respect your time. Six episodes and they’re done. No wandering second seasons where nothing happens, just a tight story that gets in, does its thing, and gets out.

Steal is a slick little crime thriller that starts with a robbery at a London pension investment firm that turns out to be far more complicated than it first appears. Sophie Turner plays Zara Dunne, a seemingly ordinary trade processor who may or may not be involved in the £4 billion heist at the center of the story, and she’s terrific. She manages to make Zara feel both vulnerable and calculating at the same time, which keeps you guessing about her motivations almost the entire series.

The show does a great job building tension as the investigation unfolds and layers of the conspiracy start to reveal themselves, especially with Jacob Fortune-Lloyd as the increasingly desperate detective chasing the truth. Toward the end, though, things take a pretty sharp turn toward the improbable as the scale of the plot balloons in ways that stretch credibility. Still, it’s a gripping six-episode ride and exactly the kind of tight British thriller I wish more American shows would emulate.

Photo of the Month

In the green room at the Lisa Gardner book event. Left to right: Kristin Koval, Cynthia Swanson, Mark Stevens, Mario Acevedo, Lisa Gardner, me, Jon Bassoff. 

Photo credit: Rebecca Rowley

Update from my Kids
Last summer my son bought his first car, a 2015 Hyundai Tucson with about 110,000 miles on it. It was reasonably priced from a dealer, and before he bought it we had it independently inspected by a mechanic who said it was in great shape. He drove it from Colorado to Louisiana for school, then back home for Christmas, and then all the way back to Louisiana again without a single issue.

Which, apparently, was the car’s final act of loyalty.

The moment he arrived back on campus the second time, the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. Warning lights everywhere. Icons he’d never seen before. Then the car started shaking anytime it went over about 25 miles per hour. Which is generally not what you want your car doing.

Early indications suggest some kind of catastrophic engine problem. The car has now been towed to a mechanic and we’re waiting to hear what the damage might be. The tough part is that whatever the number ends up being, it’s money he definitely doesn’t have.

So if anyone has a spare functioning engine for a Hyundai Tucson lying around, please let us know. Otherwise we may be entering the exciting new phase of the story where my son learns the true meaning of the phrase “shit happens.”

In better times.

Update from my Pets

I, on the other hand, got a brand spanking new car (2026 Honda CR-V Hybrid) and all Scully wants to do is go for a ride.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

We are getting closer and closer to scheduling an amazing Unbound Writer retreat in Paris! We were hoping for this fall, but due to scheduling conflicts we’re now looking at next spring. 

Unbound Writer Paris will be a boutique, high-level retreat for mystery and suspense writers, led by myself alongside bestselling authors Alex Finlay and Clémence Michallon (and likely one additional bestselling suspense author). Over four immersive days in the heart of Paris, you’ll write, workshop your pages, and sharpen tension, pacing, and character psychology. The experience also includes curated literary outings in Paris, blending serious craft work with the city’s rich storytelling history.

This will be limited to about 20 participants so be sure to join our interest form to be the first to know when registration opens!

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

Last month I shared a Day in the Life of a Writer, and more than one of you followed up with questions about writing an hour a day and whether that’s actually enough to finish a book.

It is. And it works. Just do the math. 

If you write for an hour and average around 500 words, you’re putting down about 15,000 words a month. Keep that going and you’re looking at a full manuscript in roughly six months. This assumes you know what you’re writing, which is rarely my case. This also assumes you write every day, which almost no one does, including me.  

You miss days. You get pulled into other writing projects. You hit stretches where life takes over. In the middle of a book, edits on something else can derail you for weeks or months. 

You have to bake those realities into your planning.

So I track things. Not daily word counts, but notes about when I started a project, when I had to step away for other work, and how long those interruptions lasted. For the manuscript I’m working on now, it’ll be about eight months of actual writing to complete the first draft, but closer to a year in real time because of other commitments. And out of that stretch, I’ve probably taken a total of about a week off from writing altogether.

The important thing isn’t speed, unless you’re on a crazy-ass deadline. It’s that the work keeps moving.

The hour-a-day practice started 22 years ago because I had a corporate job and that was the only time available. But even now, I stick with it for a different reason. After about an hour, I stop being sharp. I start pushing. I convince myself sentences are better than they are. I’m working harder, but the work itself isn’t improving. The law of diminishing returns kicks in.

So I stop.

Do I sometimes feel like I should be writing more? Of course I do. That voice never really goes away. But I also know what happens when my writing muscle begins to fatigue. The joy drains. The curiosity deadens. And the writing suffers because of it.

I’m not interested in that.

I want to write enough to stay engaged. Enough that I look forward to sitting down again tomorrow. Enough that this still feels like something I choose, not something that’s grinding me down (and the truth is, there are still plenty of times where even in the hour it can grind me down). 

That number is different for everyone. Some writers can go much longer and stay fresh the whole time. I can’t. I’d rather leave the page feeling clear than squeeze out more words that don’t help the book and make me resent the work.

Consistency matters more than volume.

So, for you writers out there, if you’re waiting for life to calm down before you commit to writing, you should know something: that moment isn’t coming. Writing has to fit inside the life you actually have, not the one you’re hoping for later.

Write regularly. Set your own deadline if no one else has done it for you. Protect the part of the process that keeps you engaged, where you actually feel that small dopamine hit as your fingers move across the keyboard.

That’s how books get finished on a consistent basis without burning out along the way.

At my daily writing spot: Starbucks

New episodes of my podcast Making It Up are out! Over the past month, I chatted with:

Episode 219: Matthew Sullivan
Matthew Sullivan is the author of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore, an Indie Next Pick, B&N Discover pick, GoodReads Choice Award finalist, and winner of the Colorado Book Award. We talked about alcohol and writing, writing strange and unconventional novels, and how the unpredictability of success can actually make you a better writer. We closed by making up a menacing story inspired by a line from Where You End.

Episode 218: Tod Goldberg
Tod Goldberg is a New York Times bestselling author of sixteen books, including the Gangsterland quartet. We talked about growing up in a family of writers, what he’s learned from running an MFA program, and writing from a place of absurdity rather than darkness. We wrapped with a hilarious story inspired by a line from Everything’s Eventual.

Episode 217: Jennifer Fawcett
Jennifer Fawcett is an author, actor, and playwright whose work includes Beneath the Stairs and Keep This for Me. We talked about building professional relationships with other authors, maintaining a healthy relationship with your editor, and advocating for yourself within your publishing team. We ended with a descriptive story inspired by a line from The Mechanics of Memory.

Episode 216: Danielle Girard
Danielle Girard is a USA Today and Amazon #1 bestselling author of sixteen novels, including her upcoming thriller Pinky Swear. We talked about writing in first-person present tense, going back to get an MFA after already being published, and the challenges of writing characters who are demographically different from you. We closed with a mysterious story inspired by a line from Blade.

Episode 215: Courtney Psak
Courtney Psak is the author of two novels, with her third, The Hostess, forthcoming in April 2026. We talked about her detailed outlining process, working with a UK publisher, and why mother-in-laws make excellent unreliable narrators. We finished with a gripping story inspired by a line from The Doorman.

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

REVIEWS – “ RICH ASSHOLES” EDITION

On the Page

When McKinsey Comes to Town, Michael Forsythe and Walt Bogdanich (2022)

Last month I read Empire of Pain about the OxyContin crisis and, after soaking in the evil of the Sackler family, I decided I wanted to expose myself to more stories about stupid rich assholes who think rules don’t apply to them. So I watched the news. Hey-o!   

I picked up When McKinsey Comes to Town, which is basically a long, well-documented record of how one consulting firm managed to leave damage all over the world while insisting it was just “offering advice.” I’ve worked in consulting. I know the language. I know how easy it is to hide behind decks, frameworks, and the phrase “we don’t make the decisions.” Even so, I wasn’t prepared for how often McKinsey showed up right before something went spectacularly wrong, then quietly disappeared once the fallout started. Opioids. Authoritarian governments. Massive corporate layoffs. The pattern is hard to ignore.

The book is careful and patient, which somehow makes it more infuriating. It just keeps laying out case after case until the picture is unavoidable. You see how much harm can be done by people who never technically pull the trigger but are always happy to show someone else how to do it. By the end, I wasn’t just annoyed. I was genuinely pissed off, both at McKinsey and at the system that keeps rewarding this kind of behavior. Read it if you want to understand how power actually works. Maybe give yourself a minute afterward before talking to anyone who works in consulting.

On the Screen

Succession (HBO series, 2018-2023)

I reviewed this once before before and I’m doing it again because I recently rewatched the entire series.

Now, I don’t rewatch many shows. The list is short: Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Lost, and now Succession. Somehow it’s even better the second time. What you notice more clearly is how much of it is just a modern Shakespearean tragedy dressed up in billionaires, private jets, and boardrooms. It’s greed, insecurity, anti-wokeness posturing, and raw hunger for power, all wrapped in the thinnest possible layer of civility. Everyone wants control. Everyone thinks they deserve it. Almost everyone is wrong.

This time I watched with the subtitles on, which I highly recommend. You catch every muttered insult, every under-the-breath comment, every line that probably wasn’t meant to be fully heard. The writing is unbelievably sharp. Even the background dialogue is brutal. There are lines buried in the noise that are funnier and nastier than most shows’ big speeches. What really hits on a rewatch is how committed the show is to letting these people stay exactly who they are. No sudden epiphanies. No heartfelt apologies. Just rich assholes doing what rich assholes do, over and over, convinced this time it’ll work out for them. It’s dark, it’s hilarious, and it feels uncomfortably close to real life. Turn the subtitles on. You’ll catch more jokes. You’ll also probably dislike everyone even more.

Photo of the Month

Book tease! Here’s a clue to my next thriller, launching November 10, 2026. You’ll be hearing a lot more about this one.

Update from my Kids
My daughter is in law school and applying for summer internships. I love that she asks for advice from her dad.

Update from my Pets

This is my day at home. All day, every day. And why I do my writing at a coffee shop.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

A glimpse inside a Signal group chat with some old high-school friends. 

Did you know that through my company, Unbound Writer, I work directly with writers at every stage of their journey? I offer one-on-one coaching, live seminars, retreats, and online courses, all focused on helping people tell the stories that matter to them. If you’re interested in exploring what I offer, you can visit my site (linked above) and set up a free consultation call to see if we’re a good fit. Working with writers has become one of the most meaningful parts of my career, so each month I’ll be sharing a testimonial from someone I’ve had the privilege of coaching.

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

A day in the life of a writer is spent in a cabin in the snowy woods. A 1930s Royal typewriter. A bottle of vodka. A thermos of black coffee. A vow not to leave until ten thousand anguished words are hammered out. Feelings oscillate between rapture and suicide.

None of that is true.

Let me clear up any remaining romantic notions. My life is very routine. Not sexy, but efficient.

I wake up around 5:30 a.m. and immediately reach for coffee. (If your coffee maker is not within arm’s reach of your bed, you are already behind). This is cup one.

I stay in bed for about an hour. Waking up slowly. Sipping coffee. Scrolling my phone. Thinking. I do not read the news in the morning. Not ever.

I feed the dog and the cat. Treats happen. Everyone is still half asleep.

I work out, either at home or at the rec center. My annual goal is 261 workouts (5 days/week), which sounds impressive until real life intervenes.

I shower. Usually.

Around 8 a.m., I write. This is the actual writing part of the job and it rarely lasts more than an hour. Most days I go to Starbucks, where I’ve written most of my last four books and accumulated a fucking alarming number of Starbucks stars. More coffee. This is cup two.

Then I go to the grocery store to figure out dinner. I love to cook and shop almost daily, which is either very European of me or highly inefficient.

By 9:30, I’m home and it’s park time for the dog. Off-leash. Technically illegal. Fifteen minutes of ball throwing and she’s done.

Back home, I give the cat his steroid pill and refresh his food tray. He is already yelling. He is not starving. He is just a dick.

At 10 a.m., I sit down at my desk with coffee number three. I never schedule calls before 11 and one weekday with no calls at all. In theory, this is focus time.

The cat disagrees. He jumps on my desk. The dog hovers. I am surrounded by fur for the next several hours.

I work for about an hour. Not writing. That already happened. This is podcasts, editing for Unbound Writer, consulting with my other company, emails, videos, newsletters, social media production, interviews. The unglamorous parts that make the rest possible.

At 11, I break for lunch. I make the same smoothie every day. I sit for fifteen minutes. The dog sits on me and slowly crushes my organs.

At 11:30, the cat gets his second meal and might finally shut the fuck up. I return to my desk and live inside my Outlook calendar. If it vanished, I would either crumble or feel free. I dig into more work.

At 2 p.m., coffee number four. Final. More work. This is when get around to the stuff I’ve been avoiding, like working on taxes or calling GEICO.

At 3, it’s back to the park with the dog. Fresh air. Perspective. Then back to work.

At 4, I read. Reading for blurbs or more student work. This is when I read the most fiction that is not my own. This is work-related reading, but it’s also fun (usually).

At 4:30, I feed the animals again. Yes, the cat eats three meals a day. I google yet another time how long do cats live.

At 5, I’m done. Sauna time. I recently bought a sauna and it might be the best decision I’ve ever made. Most likely shower after sauna.

At 6, wind-down time. Jessica might be over and/or maybe the kids are in town. Some nights are solo. I cook dinner with music or a podcast on. Tonight it’s slow-cooked ribs. Cooking is relaxing, and I am, objectively, good at it. Most of the time.

At 7, dinner and TV. This is where I absorb more fiction through movies and shows. If I don’t feel like thinking, I might watch an old season of Survivor. 

At 9, I’m in bed reading. This time it’s reading for myself, for the pure love of it. Almost always nonfiction.

At 10 (at the latest), lights out.

No vodka. No typewriter. No tortured genius in a snowy cabin. Just a very ordinary day built around one quiet hour where the writing actually happens. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself, it’s that structure is the only way I get shit done. Turns out discipline is the real muse, and she does not care about how routine my life looks from the outside. And I’m totally okay with that.

Scully really wants to go in the sauna.

New episodes of my podcast Making It Up are out! Over the past month, I chatted with:

Episode 215: Chris Pavone
Chris Pavone is the Edgar and Anthony Award-winning author of The Expats, Two Nights in Lisbon, and The Doorman. We talked about his years working in New York publishing, why the first page of a novel matters more than almost anything else, and how a move to Luxembourg sparked his debut. We closed by making up an emotional story inspired by a line from The Circus of Satan.

Episode 214: I.S. Berry
I.S. Berry spent six years as an operations officer for the CIA, serving in wartime Baghdad and across the Middle East and Europe. We talked about her path into intelligence work, writing memoir as a way to process lived experience, and how real-world operations shape pacing and action on the page. We wrapped with a tense, suspenseful story built from a line in Blade.

Episode 213: Kika Dorsey
Kika Dorsey is an author, poet, and English lecturer at the University of Colorado Boulder with multiple poetry collections and a Colorado Authors’ League Award to her name. We talked about the financial realities of being a working writer, crafting unreliable narrators, and why finding an agent feels harder than ever right now. We ended with a quiet, beautiful story inspired by a line from Happiness Falls.

Episode 212: Casey Sherman
Casey Sherman is the New York Times bestselling author of thirteen books, including The Finest Hours and Boston Strong. We talked about the deeply personal origins of his decades-long Boston Strangler investigation, his approach to investigative nonfiction, and working with film and documentary teams. We closed with a fascinating story sparked by a line from Operation Mincemeat.

Episode 211: Alma Katsu
Alma Katsu is a New York Times bestselling author and former intelligence professional with over thirty years at the CIA and NSA. We talked about the internal review process at the CIA, writing across genres, and navigating film and TV options. We finished with a fast-paced story inspired by a line from You Have Gone Too Far.

Episode 210: Andrew Bourelle
Andrew Bourelle is the author of Shot Clock and a coauthor with James Patterson on the Rory Yates series. We talked about using film and television as teaching tools, why writers should always be working on the next project, and collaborating with Patterson. We closed with a suspenseful story built from a line in Battle Mountain.

Episode 209: Christina Baker Kline & Anne Burt
Christina Baker Kline and Anne Burt are the coauthors of Please Don’t Lie. We talked about how their friendship turned into a writing partnership, the challenges of maintaining a unified voice, and balancing thriller conventions with emotional realism. We ended with a descriptive story inspired by a line from Blade.

Episode 208: Cynthia Swanson
Cynthia Swanson is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Bookseller and The Glass Forest, and the editor of Denver Noir. We talked about starting a writing career later in life, her move into self-publishing, and committing fully to a ghost story. We wrapped with a creepy story inspired by a line from The Comfort of Ghosts.

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

REVIEWS

On the Page

Empire of Pain, Patrick Radden Keefe (March 2021)

I thought I knew this story. The opioid crisis. OxyContin. The Sackler name quietly disappearing from museum walls. Turns out I didn’t know half of it. Empire of Pain keeps pulling the rug out from under you. Just when you think, okay, this is as bad as it gets, it somehow gets worse. And then worse again.

What’s so enraging is how early and how intentional it all was. This wasn’t a mistake or a drug that got out of hand. It was marketing, money, and ego working exactly as designed, with addiction treated as a rounding error. By the end, you’re not reading about a scandal so much as a blueprint for how enormous harm gets normalized when there’s enough money involved. It’s infuriating. It’s exhausting. And if you think you already understand how fucked the opioid crisis was, this book will prove you wrong fast.

On the Screen

Black Phone 2 (2025)

I watched this one with my son, which is kind of our thing. When it’s just the two of us, we almost always end up in horror. We loved The Black Phone, so we were genuinely excited for the sequel. Add in the fact that it’s set in Colorado and we were fully on board. 

The movie itself? Yeah. It’s a lot. Bigger, louder, messier, and way more over the top than the original. Some of it is fun. Some of it is ridiculous. Some of it made us look at each other like, okay, sure, why not. It loses the quiet dread that made the first one hit so hard and replaces it with chaos and mythology and moments that are objectively kind of stupid. But watching a flawed, occasionally dumb horror sequel with my kid, laughing at the bad parts and leaning in for the good scares, is still a win. Not great horror. Not subtle. But a solid father son movie night, and sometimes that’s the whole point.

Photo of the Month

Hell, yes, that’s Beef Wellington. My Christmas-dinner specialty (this time with an assist from my daughter). Four pounds of tenderloin, wrapped in prosciutto, puff pastry, a mustard glaze, and a thin layer of stuffing instead of duxelles. (“but Carter, it CAN’T be Beef Wellington without the duxelles.” Shut up, I do things how I want). This was every bit as pricey and tasty as you can imagine. A once-a-year treat.

Update from my Kids
Winter-break sushi night with everyone home. Left to right: Henry, Jessica, me, Ili, Sawyer. 

Update from my Pets

Scully ripped the head off her new puppy toy, which I then proceeded to try to put on Guff. This is why Guff is a dick.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

Did you know that through my company, Unbound Writer, I work directly with writers at every stage of their journey? I offer one-on-one coaching, live seminars, retreats, and online courses, all focused on helping people tell the stories that matter to them. If you’re interested in exploring what I offer, you can visit my site (linked above) and set up a free consultation call to see if we’re a good fit. Working with writers has become one of the most meaningful parts of my career, so each month I’ll be sharing a testimonial from someone I’ve had the privilege of coaching.

Offerings from my Friends

I’m not the only writer who’s also teaching, of course. My friend, Steven James, has two conferences coming up in 2026 that I wanted to let you know about. Steven is the author of more than 50 books, and he has taught writing around the world for more than 20 years.

The Advanced Fiction Institute will be held in August in Jonesborough, TN. Joining Steven will be acclaimed author and literary agent Donald Maass.

https://www.advancedfictioninstitute.com

This is one of the premier writing conferences in the country and is limited to 8 authors.

Then, in November, international bestselling author Robert Dugoni and Steven will be teaching at their annual Novel Writing Intensive in Orlando, FL. 

https://www.novelwritingintensive.com

Robert and Steven will critique up to 50 pages of your manuscript and teach detailed seminars that will elevate your work in progress.

Both events are intimate (limited to 12 or fewer people), and packed with practical, in-depth advice for improving works in progress. Make sure you mention my name when you request a registration form. 

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

This year blindsided me. Not with tragedy or revelation. Just a quiet, weird fact I had to sit with for a minute. For the first time ever, I made more money as a writer than from anything else in my life. How fucking wild is that?

I’ve been writing for nearly twenty-three years while always holding down a primary job. For most of that time I was an executive with various hotel consulting companies. A couple years ago I left the day job and started a consulting firm with my friend and business partner. I also built Unbound Writer with my partner, Jessica. All the while I kept writing books. Most of you know the story. My first three books never sold. The next ten did. And that tenth book, Tell Me What You Did, turned out to be my breakout.

A few weeks ago my agent sent a royalty check for five months of sales for that book. The number floored me. She also sent a royalty check for the German edition of my third book, Revelation. That check was for eighty-five cents. And I thought, well, doesn’t that just sum up the publishing business perfectly?

I also turned fifty-five this year. There’s something liberating about hitting your mid-fifties. You still have dreams and goals, but the old anxiety around them loosens its grip. You still want to make money, but it stops being the whole point. And you absolutely stop caring about what anyone outside your circle thinks. Reviews matter less at fifty; at fifty-five you’re not even reading them.

Mostly, you learn to let go. You start to see with real clarity that all of this is a game, so you might as well enjoy it. I find myself at this strange intersection where the career I’ve been clawing at for years finally pays me like it believes in me and I happen to be at the age where I can finally admit that I believe in me, too. I know book sales go up and down, and there’s no guarantee of another hit, but I’m okay with just controlling what I can, letting the other shit go, and enjoying the ride. It’s a weird kind of peace. A slightly haunted peace, sure, but peace all the same.

I am not suddenly floating above the world. I still worry. I still wake up wondering if I already wrote every good sentence I had in me. But the ground feels steadier now. Maybe because this is who I have always been and it is about time the numbers caught up.

If you’re working on something you love and wondering if it’s too late, it isn’t. Keep going. Get older. Get weirder. Let the world think whatever it wants. Then go make something that proves them all wrong.

New episodes of my podcast Making It Up are out! Over the past month, I chatted with:

Episode 207: Elena Taylor
Elena Taylor is a playwright turned crime novelist whose Eddie Shoes and Sheriff Bet Rivers series blend theatrical instincts with rich atmosphere. We talked about her shift from stage to page, how to build mood in a thriller, and what it takes to stop comparing yourself to every other writer in the room. We wrapped with a vivid, surprising story sparked by a line from Mailan Doquan’s Ceylon Sapphires.

Episode 206: Harry Hunsicker
Harry Hunsicker is the Shamus Award-nominated author of Still River and eight more crime thrillers, along with several acclaimed screenplays. We talked about mining your own bookshelves for ideas, the brutal honesty needed for query letters, and how it feels to land a Thriller Award nomination. We closed with a sharp, gripping story inspired by a line from Jennifer Chase’s Count Their Graves.

Episode 205: Aime Austin
Aime Austin writes the Casey Cort and Nicole Long legal thrillers, weaving courtroom tension with smart social commentary. We talked about her early work as a newspaper stringer, the fear of losing momentum when life gets loud, and how to keep reaching new readers as your audience ages. We ended with a dark, fast story built from a line in Tess Gerritson’s The Summer Guests.

Episode 204: Scott Graham
Scott Graham is the author of the long-running National Park Mystery Series and several award-winning nonfiction books. We talked about staying relevant between releases, reading widely to sharpen your own craft, and balancing the grimness of murder with a hopeful tone. We finished with an unpredictable story using a line from Matt Goldman’s The Murder Show.

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

Had a great time talking with bestselling author Angie Kim during two packed sessions at the Broomfield Library Auditorium. She’s sharp, funny, and the kind of person you can talk with for hours. She’ll be on my podcast next summer, and I can’t wait to keep the conversation going.

Photo credit: Broomfield Library

REVIEWS

On the Page

The Only One Who Knows, Lisa M. Matlin (March 2026)

I love getting sneak peeks at upcoming releases. This beauty is launching early next year, and if you like your books properly dark and noirish, make sure to pre-order. Here’s my blurb for this fine thriller:

“When disgraced TV host Minnow Greenwood returns to her storm-battered hometown, the sea starts giving up its dead. In The Only One Who Knows, Lisa Matlin’s prose is as beautiful as it is brutal, cutting straight to the bone as Minnow unravels the secrets her family and her town have spent decades trying to bury. Minnow is a deeply flawed but fiercely resilient protagonist, so real she feels like she might bleed through the page. A gothic coastal noir about generational violence and the cyclical nature of predation, The Only One Who Knows is visceral, haunting, and impossible to look away from.”

On the Screen

The Beast In Me (Netflix 2025)

Jessica and I are about halfway through The Beast in Me on Netflix. It’s a clean, absorbing thriller about a grieving writer who moves into a new neighborhood and starts to suspect her powerful next-door neighbor might be a murderer. The setup is simple, but the show knows how to sit in tension without overplaying its hand.

Some plot turns are a little wild and a few character decisions make you wonder what anyone is thinking, but the overall pull of the story is strong. The pacing works. The atmosphere works. You stay curious about who is lying and who is just damaged.

Claire Danes is excellent as a fierce but wounded protagonist who refuses to back down. Matthew Rhys brings a steady chill to the screen and never slips into parody. The acting alone is worth the watch, and it gives the story more gravity than it might have had otherwise.

Photo of the Month

Built myself a new desk! I wanted more space, so I grabbed an unfinished barn-door kit, added pine planks to fill the deeper sections, stained and aged everything, then sealed it with an epoxy pour. The epoxy, sanding, and polishing took weeks, but the end result is worth every hour. I even set a small piece of family history inside: my dad’s 1958 high-school charm.

Update from my Kids
The kids came home for Thanksgiving! They were mostly happy to see the dog.

Update from my Pets

Our Thanksgiving turkey was a bit gamier than expected.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

Don’t get it? Have your kids explain it to you. And then you still won’t get it.

Did you know that through my company, Unbound Writer, I work directly with writers at every stage of their journey? I offer one-on-one coaching, live seminars, retreats, and online courses, all focused on helping people tell the stories that matter to them. If you’re interested in exploring what I offer, you can visit my site (linked above) and set up a free consultation call to see if we’re a good fit. Working with writers has become one of the most meaningful parts of my career, so each month I’ll be sharing a testimonial from someone I’ve had the privilege of coaching.

“Many fiction writers are comfortable making up stories about imaginary people’s lives but uneasy about promoting their work in the real world. I know I was. When I met Carter at a writing event I was immediately struck by his seemingly effortless ability to connect with a group of readers he’d never met.

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

I pride myself on making kids scream. That’s my thing. Every Halloween, I turn my garage into a chamber of psychological warfare, complete with fog, lights, eerie soundscapes, and strategically timed jump scares. I spend weeks fine-tuning it, because nothing brings me greater joy than the sound of a child realizing they’ve made a terrible mistake by stepping inside. And this year? Creepy clowns. It was gonna be a slam dunk.

Usually, this November essay is my annual Scream Reel edition, where I show you a highlight video of the best screams from Halloween night. But this year the camera failed. Completely. No sound. Terrible video.

Major disappointment.

So instead of the reel, all I have is the memory of what should have been an Oscar-worthy performance in terror.

It was still a decent night. About 250 brave souls actually crossed the threshold into the garage (a much higher number including parents). But honestly? A little lower than I’d expected. The parents, as always, were generous with their praise. Lots of “Best house ever!” and “We come here every year!” Which I love, because it’s validation that I’m doing something deeply disturbing yet family-friendly.

But I kept thinking, why fewer this year? The answer came as we checked on the driveway camera.

Over the course of the night, at least fifty kids gathered at the base of my driveway, forming little clusters of debate teams. You could see them gesturing, pointing, arguing about whether it was worth it. Some even laid down flat on the driveway to peek under the creepy-clown tapestries I hang in front of the garage door, trying to see what horrors waited inside. A few of them would inch forward, get within arm’s reach of the entrance, and then bolt back to safety like they’d just seen Pennywise in the flesh.

So, yeah, there was a lot of attrition.

And my favorite group? The dozen or so kids who actually entered the garage—like, they were right there, inside, but couldn’t bring themselves to approach the door for candy. They just stood in the fog, looked around, and quietly left, like, Nope. Not today, Satan.

Best line of the night: Little girl, maybe seven, dressed as a princess. Made it all the way to the door, held out her bag of candy for me, and said with a deadpan stare, “I didn’t sign up for this.”

My deepest apologies, no Scream Reel this year. Just the ghosts of screams that should’ve been captured. The ones that got away. And next year, I’ll be running a full AV check before the first kid sets foot in the driveway, because I will not let another October 31 go undocumented.

I live for the screams.

And next Halloween, I’m coming for every single one of them.

New episodes of my podcast Making It Up are out! Over the past month, I chatted with:

Episode 203: Andrea Bartz – New York Times bestselling author and journalist whose thrillers We Were Never Here and The Last Ferry Out have both earned major acclaim (and a Netflix option). Andrea and I talked about thinking like a businessperson in publishing, separating your emotions from feedback, and the art of staying grateful to readers even when the grind gets tough. We wrapped up with a sharp, surprising story inspired by a line from Victoria Houson’s At the Edge of the Woods.

Episode 202: Scott Graham – Author of the nine-book National Park Mystery Series and five nonfiction titles, including Extreme Kids, winner of the National Outdoor Book Award. Scott and I discussed staying relevant between releases, improving your writing by reading others’, and how to balance the grimness of murder with a hopeful tone. We closed by creating an unpredictable story using a line from Matt Goldman’s The Murder Show.

Episode 201: Lindy Ryan – Award-winning author, anthologist, and film director who founded Black Spot Books to amplify women’s voices in horror. Lindy and I bonded over our shared love of Halloween, the strange joy of writing darkness, and why horror and romance both hinge on hope. We ended with a quick, eerie story using a line from Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects.

Episode 200: Jeffrey Konvitz – Author of the New York Times bestseller The Sentinel and its sequel The Guardian. Jeffrey and I talked about rewriting your life midstream, his years in Hollywood, and how he finally launched his own publishing company to bring his long-shelved project to life. We finished with a supernatural twist inspired by a line from Greg Iles’s True Evil.

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

This was fun! I got to be the featured subject of the new show The Book Club with Kim, which will air on Rocky Mountain PBS in January.

REVIEWS

On the Page

The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook, Hampton Sides

First, how do you not love the author name “Hampton Sides”? This sounds like a guy who knows exactly the right type of deck shoes to wear based on yacht size. And he’s a brilliant writer!

I’m back in non-fiction territory, where I spend a lot of my reading time. I’ve always had a soft spot for books about miserable sea voyages, and this book takes you aboard Captain James Cook’s final voyage, from England through the Pacific, Alaska, Hawaii, and back, and it pulls no punches about the misery and the magnificence of it all.

Sides balances the awe-inspiring exploration  with the brutal realities of eighteenth-century sea travel (rats, scurvy, you name it). And he doesn’t let us off easy regarding imperialism and first contact: the narrative shows how Cook and his men weren’t just adventurers, they were agents of a larger system that shook entire cultures.

Sides humanizes Cook but also makes you feel the weight of the catastrophe his voyage helped set in motion. No one is a hero here. If you love history, sea misery, moral ambiguity, and a non-fiction storyteller who knows how to write propulsively, this book’s for you.

On the Screen

Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy (Peacock 2025)

(A quick note: Peacock has two shows on this subject with nearly the same name . One is a limited-series documentary, the other is a limited-series based on true events. This refers to the latter).  

I’m halfway in watching Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy and am enjoying it. Yes, I said enjoying a series about one of the most prolific serial killers in history. What’s great is how the show stays true to the historical record and builds real horror without slipping into gratuitous gore. It doesn’t glorify the monster. It reminds you how terrifying the mundane can be.

The actor playing Gacy (Michael Chernus, Severance, Patriot) nails the mix of horror and normalcy. He’s chilling in that quiet, suburban-sharp kind of way. Meanwhile each episode leans into the life of a specific victim and the ripple effect of the crimes, rather than just solely focusing on the killer. That choice alone lifts it above most serial-killer dramas.

If you’re into dark, true-crime storytelling that gives the victims their due and doesn’t rely on shock for shock’s sake, you should check this out.

Photo of the Month

My brand-new little library I built, featuring only mysteries and thrillers (and shout out to @onceuponacrimebooks – the name is a tribute!). Painted to match my house and adorned with metal Lock, Shock, and Barrel characters.

Update from my Kids
When you’ve completely run out of Halloween costume ideas in college, you go as a goddamn carrot.

Update from my Pets

Pumpkin pup.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

I’ve always loved Halloween. Always.

When I was a kid, there was always that one house in the neighborhood. The one that didn’t just hand out candy, it committed. And it didn’t take much back then, as this was the 70s. If a house had flickering lights in the windows and spooky music playing from vintage floor speakers, I’d be in awe. I’d stand there on the sidewalk, equal parts terrified and fascinated, thinking: That’s the dream. When I grow up, I want to be that house.

And I meant it.

When I bought my first home, I started small. Some store-bought decorations, a few jump scares I rigged myself, like a leaf blower that manually launched a spooky mask up a pole. It was crude but effective. Then I discovered projectors, and everything changed. The visuals got bigger. The ideas got darker.

By the 2000s I had moved into a custom-built home designed to look equal parts Addams Family house and Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, so I had to up my game. I’d hang burlap to conceal my large front porch and stage scenes inside. Each year I’d pick a new theme—sometimes movie-inspired, sometimes whatever nightmare happened to interest me that season—and try to outdo myself.

The trick-or-treater count went up every year. First a hundred. Then two hundred. Eventually four hundred kids were showing up for candy (key advice: buy shit candy. It’ll save you a bundle and those little fuckers are too distracted to notice) and a chance to scream (and sometimes cry). That’s when I started bringing in the heavy artillery: air compressors, motion sensors, hand-built animatronics. I had an Exorcist bed that shook violently on its own, and one year I built a six-foot jack-in-the-box that launched a demonic clown into the air.

I learned quickly that nothing brings a neighborhood together like the sound of collective screaming.

Somewhere in there, Halloween became more than a night—it became a season. I’d start planning in September, sometimes August, sketching out blueprints, ordering parts online, figuring out lighting angles and trigger points. I moved the set from the porch to the garage, working on it every weekend.

My son once told me one of his favorite childhood memories is sitting on the couch watching Sunday football while I was in the garage, hammering away on some half-built monster. That’s the part that gets me. Because for him, Halloween wasn’t just about the candy or the scares, but about watching his dad completely lose himself in building something. It was about creativity, obsession, joy.

One year, I turned the entire garage into a 1970s disco from hell: mirror ball, strobe lights, demonic DJ, the whole deal. I even built a bar. That’s when I realized this wasn’t just about decorating anymore. It was storytelling. It was world-building. Every year, I got to create a new reality for one night, and people actually lined up to step inside it.

But time moves on. My kids grew up. So did everyone else’s. I stopped throwing the big parties a few years back. The neighborhood shifted. Fewer familiar faces at the door. More young families moving in.

And yet, I still feel that same old obligation. The torch can’t go out, not while there are new kids wandering the block in costumes too big for them, staring wide-eyed at the glowing house down the street. They deserve that rush of fear and wonder. They deserve to be scared just enough to remember it forever.

So yes, this year, the show goes on. My garage is transforming into an evil circus. I’m talking twisted clowns, unsettling carnival music, smoke machines, projections, strobe lights, and at least one thing that will launch at an impossible and horrifying angle.

Because Halloween isn’t a holiday for me anymore. It’s a lifestyle.

New episodes of my podcast Making It Up are out! Over the past month, I chatted with:

Episode 200: Michelle Jabès Corpora – Author, editor, and ghostwriter who’s written for a world-famous middle-grade mystery series and now pens her own novels, including His Face Is the Sun. Michelle and I talked about moving from ghostwriting to writing under your own name, the value of earning your success slowly, and how to stay true to yourself while taking feedback. We also celebrated Making It Up’s 200th episode by creating a story together using a line from her newest book.

Episode 199: Joe Hart – Edgar Award–winning and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of seventeen novels, including the newly released WYNDCLYFFE. Joe and I discussed how word-of-mouth can still be the best marketing, why dark thrillers continue to resonate, and how to build protagonists who feel both strong and real. At the end, we made up a tense, fast-moving story using a line from Karin Slaughter’s This Is Why We Lied.

Episode 198: Dwayne Goetzel – Attorney, father, and novelist who’s written nine books while building a career specializing in trademarks, copyrights, and licensing. Dwayne and I talked about pushing through publishing struggles, the power of community in a writer’s life, and the legal questions authors should actually understand. We wrapped up with a spontaneous story using a line from Mark Bowden’s Black Hawk Down.

Episode 197: Leigh Dunlap – Screenwriter of A Cinderella Story (Hilary Duff), The Standoff, and 16-Love, now turned debut novelist with Bless Your Heart. Leigh and I dug into how working in a Hollywood talent agency sharpened her writing instincts, how storytelling shifted post-pandemic, and the differences between writing scripts and novels. We finished with a quick creative sprint inspired by a line from Michelle Jabès Corpora’s His Face Is the Sun.

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

A wonderful Fright Fest event in the Atlanta Books-A-Million store with my fellow Poisoned Pen Press authors Marlee Bush, Darcy Coates, Mallory Arnold, and Daniel G. Miller.

REVIEWS

On the Page

How Bad Things Can Get, Darcy Coates (Poisoned Pen Press, 2025)

Look just above at the group photo. Second to left, that’s Darcy. One of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. And she writes BRILLIANT FUCKED-UP SHIT. Like, seriously dark. It’s been a long time since a book had disturbed my sleep, but Darcy’s did.

The novel opens with a promise of paradise: a week of games, sun, fun, and over-the-top rewards, hosted by a YouTube-style mogul named Eton on “Prosperity Island.” Guests—from influencers to superfans—come expecting parties, competition, and fame. But one of them, Ruth, is keeping a darker secret: she is the sole survivor of a cult massacre called Petition, and she’s been running from its shadow her whole life.

The result? A thrilling and horrifying high-stakes social experiment on a private island, mixing influencer spectacle, cult trauma, and bloody survival in one volatile cocktail. And when I say bloody, I mean BLOODY. Highly recommend, as long as you think you can handle it.

On the Screen

Black Rabbit  (Netflix 2025)

Jessica and I are six episodes into Black Rabbit and consider me hooked. The premise is simple but magnetic: two estranged brothers whose reunion sets off a spiral of tension, lies, and collateral damage. What makes it work are Jason Bateman and Jude Law, who carry every scene with quiet intensity. The show looks incredible too, full of moody New York shadows and slow-building dread, and the tension keeps climbing with each episode. Every time we down an episode we chase it with an episode of Parks and Rec just to calm our nerves a bit.

Not everything is perfect. Some plot turns feel a little too convenient and a few side characters exist mostly to keep the story moving. But it’s so well acted and so beautifully shot that you don’t really care. Black Rabbit is stylish, gripping, and completely addictive, and I’ll be finishing it the second I can.

Photo of the Month

If you know my books, you also know the last six have lyric epigraphs from the band James. My favorite UK band came to Boulder in September and Jess and I got a chance to spend a little time with lead singer Tim Booth backstage.

Update from my Kids
My daughter navigating first-year law school.

Update from my Pets

Scully and me up in Buena Vista, Colorado.

Shameless Social-Media Plug

If you’re not following me on Instagram or Facebook, you’re missing my 31 days of spooky photos from around my house and other cool stuff.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

Latest offering from my company Unbound Writer

So many of my books take place in October. There’s just something about the fall — the shadows stretching longer, the air turning sharp, the sense that anything could be lurking in the dark. It’s the season when I feel most alive on the page. Which makes this the perfect time of year to teach a class on the craft (and psychology) of writing dark, breathless, suspenseful fiction.

This isn’t just about learning how to write thrillers (though we’ll cover that in detail). It’s about the psychology of writing: the discipline, the resilience, the way you train your brain to show up even when you don’t feel like it. Because the scariest thing about writing isn’t the blank page… it’s about that page remaining blank.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• Why thrillers tap so deeply into human emotion and fear

• How to create characters under relentless pressure

• The secret to high-stakes premises, twists, and unforgettable endings

• How to write consistently (even when inspiration disappears)

• Editing strategies that sharpen suspense

• Career mindset: chasing improvement, not perfection

Whether you’ve written ten novels or none, this course will give you tools to make your stories more gripping, more intense, and more unforgettable.

When: Saturday, October 18 12PM – 2PM (Mountain Time)

Cost:  $75, live class with replay access

Register at UnboundWriter.com

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

I’ve been posting blogs for seven years (my very first was September 2017) and it dawned on me recently: I’ve never written an essay about my agent. Which is weird, because Pam (Ahearn) has been in my life for 21 years. Hell, that’s longer than most marriages.

I found her the old-fashioned way: stalking the acknowledgments pages of books I admired. This was before electronic submissions were a thing, so I was licking envelopes, slapping stamps, and overthinking the quality of my printer paper. Back then, you’d mail out a one-page query letter (no manuscript, God forbid) and then wait months for someone to send you back a rejection slip in your own SASE. More often than not, you wouldn’t hear back at all.

After seventy-five rejections, Pam was the one who said yes. I remember she really liked my manuscript, but had a ton of changes. I was such a newbie I’d even given a POV to a bug in that book. But, like a good client, I did everything she said, because she was the smart one and I was eager to learn.

The road wasn’t smooth. My first three books didn’t sell. Each one spent about a year making the slow rounds before being declared dead on arrival. Every time that happened, I panicked and immediately wrote another book, like I was trying to outrun failure. So Pam always had something new to shop, and on the fourth try, we finally landed a deal. Since then, we’ve sold nine more books, with two more on the way. Moral of the story: it’s a long road. While you’re waiting for success, the key is not being a pain in the ass. Have a voice, but also—do what you’re told. Your agent knows what they’re doing.

What doesn’t show up in the highlight reel are the quieter things. Pam has talked me off ledges more than once (I once remember asking her why she stuck with me and she just sighed and said I was easy to deal with… most of the time). She gives sharp editorial feedback, which not all agents bother with. And she doles out life advice. Early on she told me, “Don’t get divorced. Writers languish in their own misery if they do, and their production stalls.” Naturally, I got divorced, and I was so fucking scared to tell her. Thankfully, my career is still intact.

I know writers who hop from agent to agent like they’re speed-dating, always convinced the problem isn’t the manuscript, it’s the representation. I’ve never had that itch. Pam has been steady, honest, occasionally blunt, and always pointing me in the right direction.

Here’s the funny part: for all these years, I didn’t have a single photo of us together. To be fair, over two decades we’ve probably been in the same room a grand total of ten times. But last week at Bouchercon in New Orleans, where she lives, she treated me to a fancy dinner and we finally remembered to snap a picture. Proof she exists. Proof I didn’t make her up.

So here’s to Pam. Twenty-one years of rejection slips, sales, edits, pep talks, and life coaching. My longest professional relationship, my fiercest advocate, and the person who can still look me in the eye and say, “Eh… I don’t love this.”

New episodes of my podcast Making It Up are out! Over the past month I chatted with:

Episode 196: Lori Roy – Edgar Award–winning author of Bent Road, Let Me Die in His Footsteps, and more. Lori and I talked about researching to capture place, why social media still matters, and the surprise of not always knowing what your novel is about until it’s done.

Episode 195: Robert Bailey – Wall Street Journal bestselling author of multiple thriller series, including Jason Rich and McMurtrie & Drake. Robert shared what it’s like balancing law and fiction, learning to trust your editor, and why publishing struggles don’t disappear just because you’ve had success.

Episode 194: Mailan Doquang – Architectural historian turned debut novelist with Blood Rubies. Mailan and I discussed her leap from academia to fiction, the discipline of cutting unnecessary words, and the imposter syndrome that sneaks up at writing conferences.

Episode 193: Kaira Rouda – USA Today, Amazon #1, and international bestselling author. Kaira and I talked about setting thrillers in the suburbs, writing teenagers that feel real, and the importance of celebrating your own wins instead of racing past them.

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

A fantastic conversation with Karin Slaughter last month in front of a crowd of 400 thriller fans.

REVIEWS

On the Page

The Feather Thief, Kirk Wallace Johnson (Viking, 2018)

Every once in a while I stumble across a book so strange I have to keep reminding myself it’s nonfiction. The Feather Thief is one of those.

Here’s the setup: a young American flautist named Edwin Rist, studying music in London, breaks into the British Museum of Natural History in 2009 and makes off with hundreds of rare bird specimens (some of them collected by Alfred Russel Wallace in the 1800s). Why? Not for money. Not for science. For fly-tying. Yes, the kid was obsessed with the Victorian art of salmon flies, these absurdly ornate fishing lures that require exotic feathers. So he steals priceless specimens and plucks them bald so he can…craft fishing lures. And sell them to other enthusiasts.

This is where I had to keep putting the book down just to mutter, What the fuck?

But the real magic of Kirk Wallace Johnson’s reporting is that he takes you deep into this bizarre subculture. Fly-tiers so consumed by the beauty of a perfectly tied salmon fly that they’re willing to ignore (or excuse) the fact that feathers are being sourced from endangered or extinct species. It’s equal parts hilarious, horrifying, and hypnotic.

If you like stories that make you shake your head, laugh out loud, and maybe rethink the limits of human obsession, The Feather Thief is an absolute gem.

On the Screen

***COMMUNITY SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT ON  THE DEVIL’S HOUR , SEASON 2***

Last month I sang the praises of The Devil’s Hour Season 1. Creepy, clever, layered, unsettling. I loved it. Then I made the mistake of watching Season 2. Consider this my apology.

Because holy hell, it’s bad. Not just bad. IT SUCKS ASS.

Season 2 takes everything brilliant about the first season and flushes it straight down the toilet. Instead of dread, we get endless exposition. Instead of paranoia, we get bargain-bin sci-fi. Plot holes abound. Characters become insufferable. Illogic pairs with bad acting and worse writing. The dumb grandmother comes out of her fugue state and somehow becomes even more boring. (Her worst line of the series: “He sees the birds, and the birds see him.”) WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? YOU HAVE NEVER MENTIONED BIRDS BEFORE.

So here’s your warning: The Devil’s Hour Season 1 is worth it. Season 2 is like staring at your phone battery dying and realizing you left your charger at home. A slow, inevitable disappointment. Spare yourself.

Photo of the Month

A fun night out with Jessica in Denver last month.

Update from my Kids
I love not knowing what text I’ll get next from my kids.

Update from my Pets

Scully is almost as excited for football season as I am.

My hero

Word of mouth is the lifeblood of book sales. More than ads, reviews, or social media, it’s that moment when one reader, or one bookseller, says, “You’ve got to read this.” That kind of passion is what gives a story its wings.

Which brings me to my hero: Michelle, a bookseller at the Barnes & Noble in Exton, PA. Michelle has just hand-sold her 200th copy of TELL ME WHAT YOU DID. Two hundred! That means two hundred conversations where she cared enough about my book to press it into someone’s hands and tell them it was worth their time.

As an author, there’s nothing more meaningful. To know that your work resonates enough for someone to champion it again and again. That’s the dream.

Michelle, I’m floored. I’m grateful. And I’m raising a glass to you. Thank you for believing in my book and for sharing that belief with so many others.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

Latest offering from my company Unbound Writer

So many of my books take place in October. There’s just something about the fall — the shadows stretching longer, the air turning sharp, the sense that anything could be lurking in the dark. It’s the season when I feel most alive on the page. Which makes this the perfect time of year to teach a class on the craft (and psychology) of writing dark, breathless, suspenseful fiction.

This isn’t just about learning how to write thrillers (though we’ll cover that in detail). It’s about the psychology of writing: the discipline, the resilience, the way you train your brain to show up even when you don’t feel like it. Because the scariest thing about writing isn’t the blank page… it’s about that page remaining blank.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• Why thrillers tap so deeply into human emotion and fear

• How to create characters under relentless pressure

• The secret to high-stakes premises, twists, and unforgettable endings

• How to write consistently (even when inspiration disappears)

• Editing strategies that sharpen suspense

• Career mindset: chasing improvement, not perfection

Whether you’ve written ten novels or none, this course will give you tools to make your stories more gripping, more intense, and more unforgettable.

When: Saturday, October 18 12PM – 2PM (Mountain Time)

Cost:  $75, live class with replay access

Register at: www.unboundwriter.com

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

Writers are fucking weird. That’s probably why I love talking to them so much.

We’re solitary by nature, prone to obsession, usually carrying a few psychological idiosyncrasies that we’ve either turned into art or denial. But sit two of us down with microphones and a shared love of storytelling and magic tends to happen. That’s what my podcast Making It Up has become—a space where writers drop the mask and get real. No prep, no PR spin, no bullshit.

When I started the show, I figured it’d be a fun excuse to talk shop. I didn’t expect it to lead to keynote gigs, big-stage interviews, or being hired to coach other writers on how moderate panels or pitch prospective agents in person. But here we are. People crave real interaction, real insights, live flubs, and a reason to connect. I can’t understate the importance of showing up with your own authentic energy, being real, being human. Being authentic.

And here’s the thing: it’s only going to matter more. AI is here, and it’s not going anywhere. It can generate content in your voice, sure. But it can’t be you. It can’t sweat under stage lights or forget what it was saying mid-sentence and recover with an f-bomb. It can’t take a moment of silence and turn it into tension. And it sure as hell can’t make someone laugh, cry, or feel seen just by being real.

If you’re a writer right now, your edge isn’t speed or clever marketing or whatever genre’s trending on TikTok. It’s presence. It’s voice. It’s your ability to be an actual person in a world increasingly filled with synthetic noise. And that means you have to get out there, in front of people, and make a name for yourself that extends beyond the pages of your books.

So yeah, keep writing. But also: show up. Say the thing. Get weird. Be human.

People can tell the difference.

(photo: Talking writing with C.J. Box.)

New episodes of my podcast  Making It Up are out! Over the past month I chatted with:

Episode 191: Laura Resau – Author of The Alchemy of Flowers, her debut adult novel after a long career writing award-winning books for young readers. We talked about how cultural curiosity fuels imagination, the blissful naiveté of querying her first agent, and what it’s like straddling the worlds of YA and adult fiction.

Episode 190: Bryan Gruley – Journalist and award-winning author of Bitterfrost and the Starvation Lake trilogy. Bryan shared what it was like to get 26 rejections before landing a three-book deal with Simon & Schuster, how suspense is all about unanswered questions, and what designing your own book merch does to your soul.

Episode 189: Ellen Birkett Morris – Novelist, short story writer, poet. Ellen and I talked about the shift from poetry to fiction, supporting other writers without losing yourself, and how writing a novel sometimes feels like chipping away at a mountain with a pair of nail scissors.

Episode 188: A. J. Finn – #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window. We covered his time in publishing, the decision to use a pseudonym, and how hitting the top of the bestseller list changes (and doesn’t change) your life. Also: we discussed whether a broken leg or a broken mind makes for better suspense.

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

REVIEWS

On the Page

Blade, Wendy Walker (Thomas & Mercer, January 2026)

I love Wendy. She’s a good friend and a helluva thriller writer, and I was lucky to get a glimpse at her stunning new novel releasing in January of 2026. About the book:

Ana Robbins was an Olympic star in the making―until tragedy forced her to leave that world behind. At the age of sixteen, she gave up her dream and never looked back. Fourteen years later, she’s a successful defense attorney, revered for her work with minors. But when her former coach turns up dead, Ana lands right back where it all began, and abruptly ended: The Palace, a world-renowned skating facility nestled high in the mountains of Colorado.

Ana returns to The Palace to defend the young skater accused of the brutal crime―Grace Montgomery. Despite her claims of innocence, all evidence points squarely at Grace’s guilt, and she’s days away from facing charges of first-degree murder.

My thoughts? In short: brilliant. Here’s my blurb:

“Wendy Walker has always written with razor precision, but Blade cuts deeper. It’s not just about murder or memory or justice—it’s about the brutal cost of silence, and the impossible choices we make to survive. What the author’s done here feels intensely personal. You can feel it in every sentence—the weight of trauma, the pulse of fear, the aching need for redemption. Ana Robbins is a fascinating, morally complex narrator, and her return to Echo, Colorado unearths far more than a murder case. This is a deeply psychological, fiercely feminist, and emotionally devastating reckoning. is Wendy Walker at her boldest: unflinching, urgent, and unforgettable.”  

In short: pre-order this NOW.

Photo: Wendy and me at Thrillerfest

On the Screen

The Devil’s Hour (Prime Video, 2025)

Jessica and I just finished The Devil’s Hour, and damn, it’s a ride. The show follows a social worker named Lucy who keeps waking up at exactly 3:33 a.m. every night (aka the devil’s hour), haunted by strange visions and a son who feels…off. As her reality starts to unravel, she gets drawn into a string of murders and a mysterious man who seems to know far too much.

This show is trippy as hell. It’s intentionally confusing, full of strange timelines, odd behavior, and moments that make you question everything. But it’s not weird for the sake of weird. It builds toward something. Yes, there are flaws, most notably the character of Lucy’s estranged husband, who is overwritten and, at times, a caricature. And while it doesn’t tie everything up in a neat little bow, the show lands in a way that feels earned. If you like your thrillers layered, unsettling, and just a little bit existential, this one’s worth the watch.

Oh, and the best part of the show? Gideon. He’s a fucking head case.

Photo of the Month

Sometimes a sunrise can be as creepy as a full moon over a graveyard. This was my Colorado sunrise a few weeks ago.

Update from my Kids
After a week of Wilson birthdays, I’m no longer the father of teenagers. Though I still have a toddler golden retriever.

Update from my Pets

Yes, another pup cup.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

All you writers!

Eighteen months ago, I founded Unbound Writer out of my love for storytelling—and for talking to other writers about how they do it.

Since then, it’s grown into so much more:
✍️ One-on-one coaching
🏞️ Writing retreats and seminars
🎥 Online classes for writers at every stage

And now, the How I Write series is live—honest, self-guided classes from bestselling authors sharing how they actually get the work done. No formulas. No gatekeeping. Just the real process behind the words.

If you’re ready to level up your writing, start here: unboundwriter.com

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

Every book starts with a question.

Sometimes it’s big: what happens when the past catches up with you? How far would you go to protect the truth?

But sometimes it’s… different. More like: What’s the best musical instrument case to hide a body in?

These are the questions that show up when I’m halfway through a manuscript, deep in a character’s head, and suddenly need to know something no normal person should ever need to know. I’m not sorry. The better the questions, the better the story.

So here you go. Real things I’ve had to figure out while writing. May you find this information useful.

“What happens to the brain when someone gets punched full-force in the head?”
It’s not like the movies. One solid punch can cause a concussion, temporary blackout, nausea, or worse—depending on the angle, force, and whether the head hits something else on the way down. The brain doesn’t like being jostled. It floats in fluid, and when it slams against the skull? That’s when things get real. You don’t need a weapon to do damage. Just rage.

“How long does it take a body to decompose in the snow?”
Slower than you’d hope. Cold preserves. Snow buys you time. But if animals show up? Game over.

“Can you wipe fingerprints with snow?”
Nope. Snow smears, but it doesn’t erase. All you’re doing is adding moisture and false hope (you can see I write a lot about the snow).

“What’s the best thing to buy at a music store if you need to transport a body?”
Tuba case. Big, wheeled, and no one wants to help you carry it. Instant plausible deniability.

“What naturally growing plant in Idaho can poison someone?”
Oleander. Gorgeous. Deadly. Common in decorative landscaping. Nature’s gift to thriller writers. But be careful – oleander is fragile and often won’t survive the winter.

“Where near NYC could someone dump a body without being noticed?”
The Meadowlands. Just across the river from Manhattan. Marshy, remote, and full of urban legend. A burial site with bonus mob lore. All that being said, it’s a bit of a cliché. so best to find a comparable location.

“How much physical effort does it take to stab someone in the chest with a dull kitchen knife?”
More than you’d think, and it’s not clean. The human chest is built to protect the heart and lungs, which means ribs, cartilage, muscle, and resistance. A dull knife doesn’t glide. It drags, snags, and requires serious force, especially to penetrate deep. It’s not graceful. It’s messy, violent, exhausting. You’d be sweating, slipping, maybe needing multiple tries. The movies lie. Real violence takes strength, commitment, and a stomach for the sound of it.

“Can someone who’s experienced trauma go into a fugue state and lose time?”
Yes—and it’s terrifying. People can wander off, forget who they are, live entire days under a new identity, and then snap back with no memory of what happened. For fiction, it’s a goldmine. For real life? A nightmare.

“How do people get caught using burner phones?”
By being dumb. They turn it on at home, call their real phone, or carry both devices together. Cell towers connect the dots. “Untraceable” is a myth if you’re sloppy.

“Is it possible to clean up a large pool of blood from a hardwood floor without leaving a trace?”
Not really. You can bleach, sand, and refinish, but luminol sees everything. If you want it gone for good, you’re tearing up floorboards and hoping no one checks your trash.

“What are the odds a white, suburban woman in her 30s will get caught if she murders someone?”

Pretty damn high, but not guaranteed. Most murders are solved, especially when committed by someone in the victim’s inner circle. That means if our hypothetical suburban thirtysomething kills her husband, boyfriend, boss, or frenemy… she’s likely toast. The clearance rate for homicide in the U.S. hovers around 60–65%, and it’s even higher when the suspect is known to the victim.

But here’s the twist: she has some natural camouflage. Women are less likely to be seen as violent, and white women in particular are often underestimated by law enforcement, juries, and even investigators—especially if they present as cooperative, emotional, or “just not the type.”

That gives her an edge in manipulation, misdirection, or straight-up bluffing. Statistically, women commit far fewer murders (only about 10% of homicides), and when they do, it’s often in domestic contexts, which are easier to solve.

So: if she’s sloppy? She gets caught. If she’s methodical, careful, and patient? She might slip through.

I don’t ask these questions because I’m trying to be creepy. I ask them because I want to get it right. Because if a character is going to go off the rails, I want to make sure the rails are mapped accurately. That the horror is believable. That the blood doesn’t magically disappear just because the chapter ends.

So no, I’m not a killer. I’m just a writer with a lot of strange knowledge, a private browser window, and a commitment to making the page feel real.

Still, if I ever vanish… maybe check my notes before you call the cops.

The ever useful tuba case.

New episodes of my podcast  Making It Up are out! Over the past month I chatted with:

Episode 188: Matt Goldman – New York Times bestselling author and Emmy-winning TV writer (Seinfeld, among others), himself no stranger to plotting tight turns and comedic timing. Matt and I dug into how stand-up comedy sharpened his sense of timing, how he stays true to his comedic voice even when writing for legacy shows, and what relentless brevity taught him about suspense.Episode 187: Joshua Moehling – USA Today bestselling author of the Ben Packard series (And There He Kept Her, Where the Dead Sleep). In this one, Joshua shares the thrill (and terror) of quitting the day job and going full-time author—and yes, he really did make the leap.Episode 186: Traci Hunter Abramson – CIA alum turned award-winningsuspense author (Royal Intrigue, Novel Threat). We dug into how her years in intelligence shape her plots (yes, there’s a cover-board review process), why she treats writing like a day job, and how balancing family life keeps her grounded.

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

Have I had as much fun at book event as I did at the Hamptons Whodunit? Hell, I don’t think so.

REVIEWS

On the Page

How to Survive a Horror Story, Mallory Arnold (Poisoned Pen Press, July 2025)

A wicked blend of horror satire and psychological suspense, Mallory Arnold’s How to Survive a Horror Story turns the haunted-house trope inside out. A group of horror writers are trapped in a haunted mansion where surviving means confronting the darkest chapters of their own lives. Imagine if Agatha Christie, Shirley Jackson, and the ghost of a very pissed-off editor threw a party—and then murdered the guests one by one. It’s funny until it’s not, smart until it’s brutal, and deeply unsettling all the way through. Arnold’s voice is razor-sharp—darkly funny, emotionally devastating, and entirely her own. This is one hell of a debut.

On the Screen

Department Q (Netflix, 2025)

Jessica and I are five episodes into Department Q on Netflix, and I’m hooked. It’s dark, brooding, and gorgeously shot—but what really gets me is this: I don’t like anyone in it. At all. And that’s exactly why it works.

What makes it great isn’t just the crime solving. It’s the emotional mess underneath—the way guilt, trauma, and apathy keep leaking through the cracks. No one’s playing hero here. These are deeply damaged people barely doing their jobs, and that low hum of dysfunction is the perfect backdrop for the cold-case mysteries they’re digging up. You don’t root for them because they’re charming. You root for them because somehow, in all their unlikability, they still care—even if they don’t admit it.

If you like your crime fiction cold, slow-burn, and full of unresolved tension, Department Q delivers. Just don’t expect anyone to smile. Ever.

Photo of the Month

Sometimes when I’m feeling my little Colorado town is getting too big for my tastes, I take a turn and find peace again.

Update from my Kids
The girl is back home! The girl is back home!

Update from my Pets

This was a precursor to a major battle.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

All you writers!

Eighteen months ago, I founded Unbound Writer out of my love for storytelling—and for talking to other writers about how they do it.

Since then, it’s grown into so much more:
✍️ One-on-one coaching
🏞️ Writing retreats and seminars
🎥 Online classes for writers at every stage

And now, the How I Write series is live—honest, self-guided classes from bestselling authors sharing how they actually get the work done. No formulas. No gatekeeping. Just the real process behind the words.

If you’re ready to level up your writing, start here: unboundwriter.com

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…