Nick Russell

Over 50,000 Now

 Posted by at 12:03 am  Nick's Blog
Sep 122026
 

We had to get up at the ungodly hour of 6 o’clock yesterday morning because we had to be at the trust attorney’s office in Snowflake at 8. We originally formed our family trust in Florida back in 2021, but there are quite a few differences between Arizona law and Florida law. The easiest thing to do was just rewrite the whole thing.

Attorney Brendon Rogers was excellent to work with and covered quite a few bases that hadn’t been covered before, including having powers of attorney and medical powers of attorney drawn up for Terry and me to use in case one or the other is ill or injured and can’t make their own decisions, but also designating those responsibilities in succession to our daughter Tiffany, son-in-law Kenny, granddaughter Hailey, and granddaughter Destiny. He even printed out copies for each of us to have when and if they are ever needed. There was a lot more, but I don’t have space to go into all of it here. If you are in Arizona and need the services of a good trust attorney or estate planning attorney, I would highly recommend Brendon. There is a reason he’s been voted best at what he does in community polls several years running.

We don’t have many grocery shopping choices here in the White Mountains. Show Low has a Safeway and a Walmart superstore, and that’s about it. More than half the time when we go to Safeway, they don’t have the items we are looking for, even basic things like milk and cheese. I honestly don’t know how they stay in business. So when we left the lawyer’s office, we stopped at the Bashas in Taylor on our way home. I sure wish they had one of their locations in Show Low. It’s a huge store, and everything we wanted and more was in stock. It’s only 17 miles from our house, and as Terry pointed out, we used to drive farther than that to go to grocery stores when we lived in Alabama. We may make Bashas our regular shopping destination from now on.

Back at home, I took a nap in my recliner and then started writing, knocking out a little over 3,200 words. That puts me over 50,000 words in my new Tinder Street book. I’m pleased with how well it’s coming together.

It started raining while I was sleeping and continued for the rest of the day and much of the evening. We have been in such a drought that we need every drop of water we can get, and this definitely helped. I hope we get some decent snow this year, too.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. his week’s prize is an autographed copy of The Ghost of Marlow House, the first book in the Haunting Danielle cozy paranormal mystery series by Bobbi Holmes, who was featured in a recent Author Spotlight. When Danielle Boatman inherits Marlow House, she dreams of turning it into a seaside bed and breakfast. Since she’s never visited the property, Danielle’s not sure what awaits her in Oregon. She certainly doesn’t expect to find one of the house’s previous owners still in residence. After all, the man has been dead for almost ninety years—shouldn’t he have moved on by now? Charming Walt Marlow convinces Danielle the only way he can move on is if she solves the mystery of his death. Danielle soon discovers her real problems may come from the living—those who have their sights on Marlow House’s other secrets.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

***

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – Becoming the best version of yourself comes with a lot of goodbyes,

Still In One Piece

 Posted by at 12:03 am  Nick's Blog
Sep 112026
 

I said in yesterday’s blog that I planned to put a clamp on the gas line of the Chrysler convertible to secure it to the fuel pump. I mentioned then that it would be a simple project for anybody else, but with me doing something mechanical like that, anything could go wrong. I’m happy to report that I’m still here and still in one piece.

After putting chocks under the front wheels and then using my floor jack to raise the back of the car, I put jack stands under the frame. One of my earliest memories is of being at somebody’s house where one of my mom’s cousins was working under a car with just an old-style bumper jack. The jack slipped, and the car fell on him, crushing his head like an egg and killing him instantly. I always remembered that and would never crawl under a car without knowing that it was fully supported. Even so, I had Terry come out to stand by just in case something might go wrong. There’s no such thing as being too careful.

With that chore finished, I cleaned up and started writing, knocking out another 2,400-word chapter in my new Tinder Street book. Another good writing day should put me somewhere around 50,000 words.

But that might not be today because we have to go to Snowflake for a meeting with the attorney who is revising our family trust to make sure it meets all of Arizona’s standards, since we first established the trust when we lived in Florida. Each state has its own little quirks, and we want to make sure that if something happens to us, our estate is handled properly and doesn’t have to go into probate.

Later in the afternoon, Tiffany and Kenny stopped by for a quick visit. It’s the first time we’ve seen him since we went to Texas to pick up the old car. He’s still looking pretty haggard from his surgery, and Tiffany said the doctor told them if it had gone any longer, the gallbladder might have ruptured and he would have been dealing with sepsis. I’m glad they got it out when they did.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. his week’s prize is an autographed copy of The Ghost of Marlow House, the first book in the Haunting Danielle cozy paranormal mystery series by Bobbi Holmes, who was featured in a recent Author Spotlight. When Danielle Boatman inherits Marlow House, she dreams of turning it into a seaside bed and breakfast. Since she’s never visited the property, Danielle’s not sure what awaits her in Oregon. She certainly doesn’t expect to find one of the house’s previous owners still in residence. After all, the man has been dead for almost ninety years—shouldn’t he have moved on by now? Charming Walt Marlow convinces Danielle the only way he can move on is if she solves the mystery of his death. Danielle soon discovers her real problems may come from the living—those who have their sights on Marlow House’s other secrets.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

***

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. I bet somebody just filled their tank.

Thought For The Day – Never go down the “If Only” road. It never leads anywhere good.

Words, Water, And Whatnot

 Posted by at 12:02 am  Nick's Blog
Sep 102026
 

So, what’s going on in our life? All kinds of things. Some of them good and some of them not so good.

The good news is that I talked to Kenny yesterday, and while he is still in pain, he says he is slowly getting better. But he’s off work for a week and bored to death. Kenny is the kind of guy who always has to be doing something, and idleness does not suit him. The not so good is that Terry has been fighting a chest cold for several days now, and it has really taken a toll on her. She told me that she thinks it’s starting to ease up a bit, and I sure hope so. I hate it when the people I care about are not doing well and there’s nothing I can do to help them.

I’ve been doing a lot of writing in my new Tinder Street book, over 6,000 words so far this week. As much as I love this series, it’s the hardest one to write because so much research is involved. I have to watch myself, because I’ll be looking at an old newspaper or online story from the past and the next thing I know, I’m going down a rabbit hole, looking for more stuff that I won’t use in the book but that I’m fascinated by.

Besides writing, yesterday I introduced Alli to the Oneisall 7 in 1 pet grooming system I ordered a while back. Anybody who’s ever been around a German Shepherd knows that name is not really correct. They should be called German shedders, because these remarkable dogs have a thick coat and they shed every day of the year, winter and summer. Our granddaughter Hailey is a pet groomer, but I don’t like to call on her all the time because she’s busy with her new baby and clients’ dogs, and I’m too cheap to pay her. In truth, she won’t take any money from me. Anyway, this is a great vacuum-operated system with everything from hair cutters to nail grinders to paw clippers. I knew Alli would be a little shy around it, but it has three speeds, the lowest one being not very intrusive at all. I won’t say she loved the experience, but she stood still and let me get a lot of hair off of her in the short time I used it. I plan to do a little bit at a time as she becomes more accustomed to the equipment.

One of the worst things about almost everywhere in Arizona is our hard water. That’s why in some places like Yuma and Tucson, they have water vending machines where you can fill up water bottles rather than deal with the stuff that comes out of the tap. Terry got tired of having cloudy iced tea and white mineral deposits on every glass or utensil she used, so she ordered a Bluevua countertop reverse osmosis water filter system from Amazon. It didn’t take long to set up, and after running the first few test pitchers of water and disposing of them as recommended until the various filters got settled in, she now has sparkling clean water that tastes a lot better.

Today I plan to be back at it, getting at least one more chapter written. I’m also going to try to put hose clamps on the gas line on the old Chrysler convertible, which came off a few days ago and spilled gas all over the garage floor. Even I should be able to do that. But then again, we are talking about me, so who knows what might happen?

It’s Thursday, so it’s time for a new Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an autographed copy of The Ghost of Marlow House, the first book in the Haunting Danielle cozy paranormal mystery series by Bobbi Holmes, who was featured in a recent Author Spotlight. When Danielle Boatman inherits Marlow House, she dreams of turning it into a seaside bed and breakfast. Since she’s never visited the property, Danielle’s not sure what awaits her in Oregon. She certainly doesn’t expect to find one of the house’s previous owners still in residence. After all, the man has been dead for almost ninety years—shouldn’t he have moved on by now? Charming Walt Marlow convinces Danielle the only way he can move on is if she solves the mystery of his death. Danielle soon discovers her real problems may come from the living—those who have their sights on Marlow House’s other secrets.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

***

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. I’m a gun guy, but I don’t think I want to do any shooting at a range where they have signs in Braille.

Thought For The Day – Some people light up every room they leave.

Author Spotlight – David Grassé

 Posted by at 12:06 am  Nick's Blog
Sep 092026
 

In an effort to introduce my readers to other authors and their work, every week I run an Author Spotlight, sharing information about an author, their work, and how they go about writing their books.

Born in Casa Grande, David Grassé is a third-generation Arizonian, raised in Tucson. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in History and a Master’s Degree in Library Sciences. David has five published books, A Killer is What They Needed: The True, Untold Story of Commodore Perry Owens, The Bisbee Massacre: Robbery, Murder and Retribution in the Arizona Territory, 1883–1884, The True Story of Notorious Arizona Outlaw Augustine Chacón, From the Footlights to the Tenderloin: The Tragic Life of Actress Edna Loftus, and The Red Light Districts of Tucson, 1870 – 1918. He is also the author of numerous magazine, newspaper, and journal articles. David is a member of The Wild West History Association, and The Arizona Historical Society. He is employed as a reference librarian, as writing western history does not pay the bills.

A conversation with David:

When did you decide to become an author, and why?

I was encouraged by a professor at university who read a biographical paper I wrote to turn it into a book. The result was published by Graphic Publishers as A Killer is What They Needed.

How long have you been writing, and what was your first book?

My first book, A Killer is What They Needed: The True Untold Story of Commodore Perry Owens was published in 2013, and it took me about three years to write it.

What genres do you write in?

Only one – non-fiction history. More specifically, with only one exception, I write Arizona Territorial histories.

How many books do you have out?

I have five published books and the sixth will be released in early 2027.

Are you trade published, independent, or a combo?

My books are trade published.

What is your writing style? Panster or plotter or?

Panster, but then in writing history, how the story ends is predetermined.

Do you write more than one book at a time?

I will only start a new project if I hit a dead end. If for some reason, some necessary resources or documents are unavailable, I will move on to another project.

How much research is involved in your writing?

It typically takes three years to write a book. About half of this time is spent researching the subject. This includes searching online databases, visiting archives, and often traveling to the place or places which I am writing about.

Where do you write? Do you have a home office, write in a coffee shop, or what?

At home at my desk, though sometimes I write at work.

Do you use any programs like ProWriting Aid, Grammarly, or ?

Aside from the spellcheck function in MS Word, I do not use such programs, though my editor probably wishes I would.

How do you promote your books?

I regularly attend book festivals, conferences, and give presentations. Thankfully, my publisher does a lot of the marketing for me as far as contacting distributors and sending out review copies.

What are your writing goals, long and short term?

My short term goal is to have my first book published by an academic press. My long term goal is to be named as the official Arizona State Historian.

Any advice to new authors or someone who wants to become an author?

For every finished book, there are probably a thousand more that never got past being a vague desire to write a book.

You can learn more about David’s work and his books at the following links:

www.davidgrasse.com
https://www.facebook.com/davidgrasseauthorhistorian
https://www.amazon.com/stores/David-Grass%C3%A9/author/

***

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. There has to be a story behind this sign, and I want to know what it is.

Thought For The Day – The difference between the almost right word and the right word is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. – Mark Twain

Taxicab Tales – Only In America

 Posted by at 12:16 am  Nick's Blog
Sep 082026
 

In the past, I have shared a series of stories from my days publishing small town newspapers, from a job I had selling cars, about my time in the Army, and some tales of the offbeat adventures and misadventures I’ve gotten into in a series called Nick Happens. Now, I thought I would share some stories about a period in my life many years ago when I drove a taxicab in Tucson, Arizona. Oh, some of the things I witnessed back then! I’ve told more than one prospective author that if they really want to learn about human nature, they need to become a cop, a nurse, or a cab driver. You will see the best and worst of people in any of those jobs.

It was Christmas Eve, and my son was spending the holiday with his mother and sister. At the time, I shared a cab with another driver named Manny. He would drive it on the day shift, and I would drive it on the night shift, and we’d switch back and forth from days to nights every couple of weeks. Manny was also a single father, his wife had deserted the family about the time my marriage broke up, so I decided to work an extra shift to allow him to be home with his kids.

Just about the time the sun was setting over the Tucson Mountains, I got a call to pick up a fare at a music store on Speedway Boulevard. Nobody was waiting outside, and when I went into the store, I discovered my passengers were two Native Americans. One of them was looking at harmonicas and told me they’d be a few minutes, so go out to the cab and start the meter and wait.

When they got in, it was obvious they had been drinking, but they weren’t obnoxious. In fact, they were very friendly, wishing me Merry Christmas and asking if I would take them to the small town of Sells, located on the Tohono O’odam Indian Reservation, about 60 miles west of Tucson. “Don’t worry, man, we’re not going to stiff you,” one of them said, handing me a $100 bill. “If it’s more than that when we get there, I’ll pay you.” So off we went.

We made a couple of stops before we left town, one at a Jack in the Box to load up on food, them insisting on buying me dinner, and then at a carryout where they bought two cases of beer and a couple of bottles of whiskey. All the while, they talked with me, telling jokes and laughing, the three of us having a good old time.

They were twin brothers, and I wish I could remember their names. They asked me about my life and told me what it was like growing up on the reservation. When they found out I was single, they said they were going to make sure to introduce me to a “squaw,” (their word, not mine.) I was a lot skinnier back in those days, and one of them told me that once I cozied up to a big, fat Papago girl, I’d never go back to those “skinny white chicks.”

Before we got to the reservation boundary, they decided they might need more booze, so we pulled into a little store and went inside. They bought two or three more cases of beer, some more hard liquor, and what seemed like a year’s supply of beef jerky, Slim Jims, and cigarettes. They asked if there was a restroom, and the man behind the counter, who had been giving them the stink eye since we walked in the door, told them no.

They went out back to relieve themselves, and as I was walking out the door, he said, “Watch yourself with those blanket asses. First chance they get, they’ll cut your throat.” I didn’t know that my two new friends were on their way back into the store when he said that. I turned around and said, “What the hell are you talking about? Those are my cousins. I grew up with them.”

They thought that was hilarious. When we got in the cab and back on the road, they decided we should probably all cut our wrists and mingle our blood so we could be blood brothers. I told him I was going to pass because I didn’t want my throat cut or my scalp lifted. That made them howl with laughter.

As we rolled along through the dark desert night onto the reservation, I started to see Christmas lights on houses scattered along the way. “What? You didn’t think Indians celebrated Christmas?” one of them asked. “Sure we do. But we’re not real big on Columbus Day.”

The one who had bought the $400 Suzuki Chromatix harmonica pulled it out and began to play Jingle Bells, then switched to the blues. This guy was amazing! He played Sonny Boy Williamson’s Help Me, I’m A Man, made famous by Muddy Waters, and Moanin’ At Midnight. They had cracked open a bottle of Black Velvet and were passing it back and forth. I was never a drinking man, and when they handed it to me, insisting I have some, I held the bottle to my lips like I was drinking and then passed it back to them.

I couldn’t help thinking, where else would you drive a car made in Detroit with two Native Americans as passengers, one of them playing the black blues on a Japanese harmonica while drinking Canadian whiskey? Only in America.

When we got to their home, somewhere outside of Sells, they insisted I come in and meet their family. Their mother, a large, gray-haired woman, insisted on making fry bread for all of us, and I wound up sitting at the kitchen table with all of them, talking and having a wonderful time. I had decided to work because I didn’t want to be alone on Christmas Eve, but it turned out to be one of the best holidays I ever had, with an amazing, loving family. Even their cousin Elana, who was indeed a large young woman whom I was quite sure was fully capable of keeping a skinny white boy warm on cold winter nights.

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – Life is too important to be taken seriously. – Oscar Wilde

Kenny’s Gut And Terry’s Butt

 Posted by at 12:03 am  Nick's Blog
Sep 072026
 

Thank you to everyone who sent emails or comments about son-in-law Kenny’s gallbladder surgery yesterday. Tiffany said they did a laparoscopic procedure, and afterward the doctor said it was in pretty bad shape. They had a bit of trouble controlling his pain after the surgery, but they got it taken care of. Tiffany stayed at the hospital with him overnight, and they finally got to come home yesterday afternoon. When I talked to her later, she said he was sleeping. I’ve always thought sleep is one of the best ways to recover from anything.

Most of the people who read my blog understand my somewhat twisted sense of humor, but apparently one reader didn’t. They sent me an email chastising me for being so insensitive that I expected Kenny to work on my car the day after he got out of the hospital. But that’s okay. I’m sure Kenny understood. I’m going to let him sleep in until at least 10 clock this morning before I start calling asking him when he’s going to get over here and get to work. You can never say I don’t care and won’t adjust my schedule to accommodate somebody when they’re having difficulties.

As for the second half of the title of today’s blog, yesterday Terry fired up the Pit Boss and smoked her first pork butt, using mesquite pellets. She cooked it for about 8 hours, stopping about halfway through to wrap it before putting it back in the smoker. Once it was done, she kept it wrapped and let it temper for another 1 1/2 hours. I sampled a bit of it while she was pulling it apart, and it was delicious. She said she didn’t get the bark she expected, but it’s a learning experience.

While she was busy with all of that, I wrote another chapter in my new Tinder Street book, The Forgotten Years. I’m just a little shy of 40,000 words so far and having a lot of fun with the story. Will I make it to my hoped for deadline at the end of the month? That remains to be seen. I never work toward a specific word count or set a date on the calendar in stone. I keep working until the story is done, whenever that might be.

Congratulations, Bridget Wiemken, winner of our drawing for an autographed copy of The Guatemala Reader by Mark Walker, who was recently profiled in an Author Spotlight. Join Mark on an epic journey through this fascinating yet often misunderstood Central American neighbor. The author has studied and written about Guatemala for fifty years, and this book focuses on some of the extraordinary people of Guatemala and their amazing stories. Given the crisis of democracy in Guatemala and the continued turmoil on our border, this is the time to understand the human realities better and take action to secure a more promising future. Guatemala draws up to 1.8 million tourists per year, whose visits start in the largest city in Central America with brief visits to ancient Mayan ruins and contemporary Maya villages, which provide a partial folkloric understanding of Guatemalan society. Over the years, Mark has traveled to places most Guatemalans have never seen and uses encounters with ordinary Guatemalans, profiles, and stories from local Mayan leaders, advocates, writers, and poets to bring a new appreciation and understanding of this amazing country.

We had 29 entries this time around. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon! Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – It’s hard to believe that before the internet, we thought every village only had one idiot.

I Was Wrong

 Posted by at 12:03 am  Nick's Blog
Sep 062026
 

I’m sure that I’ve told you before how much I respect and love my son-in-law Kenny, and what a hard worker he is. I think I’ve even said that he’s always there when we need him. But as much as it pains me to admit it, it turns out I was wrong. The man’s a slacker.

Kenny is a GM-trained master mechanic, and he knows how to take apart and put together anything mechanical. I’ve been wanting him to come over and tune up the Chrysler convertible we bought last week, but because he works long hours every day keeping the school buses for our town running, I haven’t pressured him too much about it. Yeah, I remind him four or five times a day, but that’s not pressure, right? I figured having a 3-day weekend, he would have plenty of time to take care of things for me.

That’s where I found out just how wrong I’ve been about him. We got a message late Friday night that Kenny was in the hospital. Can you believe he decided to have his gallbladder out rather than come and work on my car? Just when you think you know somebody.

I wrote in a blog post about our trip to Texas to pick up the old car that the night we got to the town where I bought it, we had dinner at Chili’s, and Kenny got really sick and was up all night. At that time, we thought it was food poisoning. But it turns out that it was his gallbladder.

He had surgery yesterday afternoon, and hopefully he will be on the mend soon. I see no reason why he couldn’t come and work on my car by Monday, do you?

Get well soon, Kenny! We love you.

Today is your last chance to enter our Free Drawing for an autographed copy of The Guatemala Reader by Mark Walker, who was recently profiled in an Author Spotlight. Join Mark on an epic journey through this fascinating yet often misunderstood Central American neighbor. The author has studied and written about Guatemala for fifty years, and this book focuses on some of the extraordinary people of Guatemala and their amazing stories. Given the crisis of democracy in Guatemala and the continued turmoil on our border, this is the time to understand the human realities better and take action to secure a more promising future. Guatemala draws up to 1.8 million tourists per year, whose visits start in the largest city in Central America with brief visits to ancient Mayan ruins and contemporary Maya villages, which provide a partial folkloric understanding of Guatemalan society. Over the years, Mark has traveled to places most Guatemalans have never seen and uses encounters with ordinary Guatemalans, profiles, and stories from local Mayan leaders, advocates, writers, and poets to bring a new appreciation and understanding of this amazing country.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn this evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – Bad days are also part of a very good life.

Late Start To A Slow Day

 Posted by at 12:03 am  Nick's Blog
Sep 052026
 

One of the nice things about the writing lifestyle is that we can set our own schedule. Sometimes I will spend most of the day at my computer working on a book, and Terry will be just as busy editing and proofreading. Other days, we may be busy with things around the house and not do much work at all. Then there are days like yesterday where we get a late start and don’t go out of our way to accomplish much.

Since we were on the go all day Thursday, with Terry getting a nerve block injection in her neck, then running some errands and having an early dinner at the Lotus Garden restaurant in Pinetop, after spending the day before digging holes and planting rose bushes and the magnolia tree, yesterday, we stayed in bed for a long time, cuddling and talking and just enjoying quiet time together.

When we did finally get in gear, I fed Alli and Declan, the porch cat, gave myself my weekly Mounjaro injection, posted my blog to Facebook and answered several emails. Then we each had a bagel, and I cleaned the toilets while Terry tidied things up around the house and did a load of laundry.

Eventually, I made my way to my office, where I wrote another chapter in my new Tinder Street book. When I finished that, I went outside, where Terry was checking on the magnolia tree and some plants we had put in, as well as pulling some weeds. I really need to cut the grass and do some more weeding, but it was late in the day and I didn’t feel up to it.

Back inside, she warmed up the leftover Chinese food from the day before for dinner, and then we watched television, and that was the extent of our day. It’s always good to start out slow and taper off.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an autographed copy of The Guatemala Reader by Mark Walker, who was recently profiled in an Author Spotlight. Join Mark on an epic journey through this fascinating yet often misunderstood Central American neighbor. The author has studied and written about Guatemala for fifty years, and this book focuses on some of the extraordinary people of Guatemala and their amazing stories. Given the crisis of democracy in Guatemala and the continued turmoil on our border, this is the time to understand the human realities better and take action to secure a more promising future. Guatemala draws up to 1.8 million tourists per year, whose visits start in the largest city in Central America with brief visits to ancient Mayan ruins and contemporary Maya villages, which provide a partial folkloric understanding of Guatemalan society. Over the years, Mark has traveled to places most Guatemalans have never seen and uses encounters with ordinary Guatemalans, profiles, and stories from local Mayan leaders, advocates, writers, and poets to bring a new appreciation and understanding of this amazing country.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – In the near future, AI is going to tell a woman she is wrong in that she needs to calm down. That, my friends, will be the end of AI.

Digging Myself Deeper

 Posted by at 12:03 am  Nick's Blog
Sep 042026
 

In the past, I’ve always had some friends handy whenever I started running my mouth and digging myself into a deeper hole, who would say, “Shut up, Nick.” Unfortunately, they’ve all died off and I’m the last man standing. So I’ve been digging some holes lately.

Terry had purchased some rose bushes from Lowe’s that she wanted planted, so the other day I dug three holes for them in the front, where we have some other rose bushes already. Fortunately, a heavy rain the day and night before had made the ground soft, which made the digging easier. But in this part of Arizona, for every shovel full of dirt you dig up, you’re going to get two shovels full of rocks, and this was no exception. A few times, I had to resort to a pick to break the ground up enough to get rocks the size of a large softball out. But I got the job done and Terry got the bushes planted.

The next order of business was to dig a larger, deeper hole in the backyard to plant a magnolia tree. Back on Arbor Day, Subaru was giving away free trees, and we picked up a nice magnolia. It was replaced to a temporary home in the greenhouse ever since, but it was time to plant it in its permanent home.

The ground in back wasn’t nearly as easy as the ground in front, and I had to resort to using my Earthquake rototiller to get the job done. The first 6 inches or so weren’t too bad. All I had to do was hold the tiller in place and let it go. Then I hit hard clay, and the thing bounced around so much I thought my arms were going to fall off. But eventually, I got deep enough that Terry could plant the tree, and it’s doing very well out there. And not once did anybody say, “Shut up, Nick.” But I’m sure I’m going to need it said sooner or later.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an autographed copy of The Guatemala Reader by Mark Walker, who was recently profiled in an Author Spotlight. Join Mark on an epic journey through this fascinating yet often misunderstood Central American neighbor. The author has studied and written about Guatemala for fifty years, and this book focuses on some of the extraordinary people of Guatemala and their amazing stories. Given the crisis of democracy in Guatemala and the continued turmoil on our border, this is the time to understand the human realities better and take action to secure a more promising future. Guatemala draws up to 1.8 million tourists per year, whose visits start in the largest city in Central America with brief visits to ancient Mayan ruins and contemporary Maya villages, which provide a partial folkloric understanding of Guatemalan society. Over the years, Mark has traveled to places most Guatemalans have never seen and  use encounters with ordinary Guatemalans, profiles, and stories from local Mayan leaders, advocates, writers, and poets to bring a new appreciation and understanding of this amazing country.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – I’ve come to accept the fact that the closest I’m going to get to an African safari is seeing a camel toe in cheetah print leggings at Walmart.

A Gas Bath

 Posted by at 12:03 am  Nick's Blog
Sep 032026
 

If there’s one thing I learned from our fast trip to Texas and back to pick up my old Chrysler convertible, it’s that I’m too damned old for 13-hour car rides two days in a row, even when I’m not the one doing the driving. It’s been five days now, and I’m still feeling worn out.

When we got home, the car would turn over but wouldn’t start, so we pushed it off the trailer and into the garage. The man I bought it from said he thought it was probably out of gas, so on Monday, after going to the Motor Vehicle Department to register it, I filled up a couple of gas cans at Circle K and came home.

I had poured about seven gallons into the car when suddenly I heard something like water running. I looked under it and realized it wasn’t water, it was gasoline! A lot of gasoline. I was able to crawl under the car enough to see that the fuel line had come off at the electric fuel pump mounted on the chassis. I quickly put my thumb over the hose to stop the flow, but in doing so I was lying in a big pool of gasoline. Terry was in the house on my phone with the credit union that financed the GMC truck, trying to get access to their system so she could make the payments online, and couldn’t hear me yelling for her.

After lying there for quite some time and feeling the gas starting to burn my skin like fire, I let go of the hose long enough to grab a large flat plastic storage container. I was able to slip it under the car to catch the gas, then stuck the hose back onto the inlet for the fuel pump. That stopped the flow, but what a mess I had to clean up.

Terry was off the phone by then and had come out to help me, and we got the car out of the garage. We left the large garage door in front and the small door in back open to air it out, with the aid of a large fan. With that done, I stripped off and jumped in the shower to wash the gas off. 24 hours later, my skin was still irritated, and there was a slight smell of gasoline in the garage and even in part of the house. With the doors open, we were able to air things out, but what an adventure that was! The good news is that the car started right up after that.

We have some errands to run today, and among those will be getting some hose clamps to put on the fuel line to make sure it doesn’t come off again. I don’t want to repeat that scenario if I can avoid it.

It’s Thursday, so it’s time for a new Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an autographed copy of The Guatemala Reader by Mark Walker, who was recently profiled in an Author Spotlight. Join Mark on an epic journey through this fascinating yet often misunderstood Central American neighbor. The author has studied and written about Guatemala for fifty years, and this book focuses on some of the extraordinary people of Guatemala and their amazing stories. Given the crisis of democracy in Guatemala and the continued turmoil on our border, this is the time to understand the human realities better and take action to secure a more promising future. Guatemala draws up to 1.8 million tourists per year, whose visits start in the largest city in Central America with brief visits to ancient Mayan ruins and contemporary Maya villages, which provide a partial folkloric understanding of Guatemalan society. Over the years, Mark has traveled to places most Guatemalans have never seen and  use encounters with ordinary Guatemalans, profiles, and stories from local Mayan leaders, advocates, writers, and poets to bring a new understanding of this amazing country.

To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – Don’t be afraid to start over. You might like your new story better.

Author Spotlight – LoLo Paige

 Posted by at 12:02 am  Nick's Blog
Sep 022026
 

In an effort to introduce my readers to other authors and their work, every week I run an Author Spotlight, sharing information about an author, their work, and how they go about writing their books.

LoLo Paige is a former wildland firefighter and award-winning author who writes the stories she always wanted to read. Her debut novel, Alaska Spark, grew out of her true account in The Anchorage Press about escaping a wildfire in Alaska, a piece that won an Alaska Press Club award. Her Blazing Hearts Wildfire series has topped Amazon Bestseller lists in the U.S., Canada, and Australia, earned features in Publishers Weekly‘s BookLife, and won the Eric Hoffer and Kindle Book Review awards for best indie romance. New York Times bestselling romantic suspense authors, Cherry Adair and Kat Martin, have endorsed her books. When she isn’t writing fire, LoLo writes romantic comedies. Everybody Loves Polar Bears, Hello Spain: Goodbye Heart, and Irish Thunder all draw from her own adventures in and out of Alaska. Under the pen name Lois Paige, she also writes historical fiction. Her coming-of-age novel, The Butte Girls’ Club has done well in Montana bookstores. It’s a nostalgic, humorous romp with four friends growing up during the chaos of the 1960s. LoLo lives in Eagle River and spends summers at her remote beach cabin on Kachemak Bay across from Homer.

A conversation with LoLo:

When did you decide to become an author and why?

I decided to become an author in the sixth grade, when I discovered several series: Nancy Drew, Judy Bolton, Beverly Gray, Beany Malone, Trixie Belden, and the Bobbsey Twins. My older sisters encouraged me to write. It wasn’t until I finished my career with the federal government that I got serious. I started out writing freelance articles in magazines and newspapers. A dream come true for me was an article I wrote about whale watching in Southcentral Alaska for Alaska Magazine. When I wrote a story about escaping a wildfire in Alaska’s Interior for The Anchorage Press, one of the judges encouraged me to write a novel about it.

How long have you been writing, and what was your first book?

I indie-published my first book, Alaska Spark, during the covid lockdown in 2020. Having to stay quarantined was the gift of time, allowing me to get this book done. Since then, I’ve published a dozen novels.

What genres do you write in?

Mostly romantic suspense because I like writing about the perils of fighting wildland fires while navigating friendships and love relationships. I put a lot of my personal firefighting experiences into my books.

How many books do you have out?

About a dozen so far, with several on the way. I just finished writing a romantic suspense trilogy with Alaska State Trooper characters, called The Glacier Cove Series, the first of which will be released this fall.

Are you trade published, independent, or a combo?

I’m a hybrid, having published independently and with a traditional publisher. Some of my romcoms are published traditionally.

What is your writing style? Panster or plotter or?

Plotter. I like structure, and that’s one of the reasons I love the romance genre with the required HEA—happily ever after. The other reason I like romance is that every other genre is a subgenre, where I can write thrillers, comedies, historical fiction, or anything else. I start with a premise, then I brainstorm story scenes, and turn them into an outline. I like following dependable structures that work for my books, like Hero’s Journey, which works well for wildland fire stories (it worked well for Star Wars!). I have a romance beat outline that I devised to mix with the HJ. Often times I stray from the outline when my brain jumps the track and takes a highway, but that’s when writing is the most fun.

Do you write more than one book at a time?

I didn’t used to, but now I have two or three going at the same time. When I get stuck on one and need to take a break from it and let it ferment in my computer for a while, I’ll switch to a romcom or the next book in my series, which are all in different stages. When I come back to the stuck book, it’s easier to solve the problems I run into. I struggle with timelines, and it drives my editors crazy.

How much research is involved in your writing?

For wildland fire there’s quite a bit. It’s been quite a while since I did it, and some equipment and strategies have changed over the years, so I keep up with those. My readers asked me to write female air tanker pilots and smokejumpers, so my last book and the current one I’m writing have those characters. It takes much research to learn the aviation world since I’m not a pilot, and I didn’t jump out of planes. All my firefighting stayed on the ground. I interview people who do, though, to get their perspective on doing those jobs. When I write my travel romcoms, I research my destinations or I base them on real tours and cruises I’ve taken. Historical fiction is an entirely different thing that requires twice the amount of research. While my memory served for much of the 1960s, for example, I still had to look up the historical events, styles, the way we talked, dressed, what we ate…I had so much fun writing that in the Butte Girls’ Club.

Where do you write? Do you have a home office, write in a coffee shop, or what?

I have a dedicated office, which is in a corner of the main floor of my home, surrounded on three sides by windows, where I look out over the Chugach Range from my perch in Eagle River Valley, Alaska. I live in a neighborhood with 80 to 100 foot spruce and birch, so the birds and wildlife feel like I live in a zoo. We have routine visits from bears, eagles, ravens, and lynx, which can be a distraction. I can’t write in coffee shops or other places. I always want to get up and go talk to people.

Do you use any programs like ProWriting Aid, Grammarly, or?

I mostly write in Word. I signed up for ProWriting Aid back when it first started, and they gave me a lifetime membership, so I use it mainly for proofreading after I’ve copy and line edited my manuscripts. Ten years of writing filled my C drive, which put a sudden stop to my projects. Had to move files to an external drive, which took some time.

How do you promote your books?

I used to sign up for newsletter blasts like Bookbub and the ones with Written Word Media like Freebooksy, but didn’t see enough sales to offset the costs of buying space in those. Now I mainly run Facebook ads, and that seems to work for me, since many of my readers are older (35+).

What are your writing goals, long and short term?

My short term goal is always write the next book. My long term goal is to get 20 books to market, so I can test the theory of 20 Books to 50K. I attended several of the 20Booksto50K writer conferences in Las Vegas, to learn what I need to keep moving forward. Once I have 20 books out, I’ll start doing larger venues for book signings. Right now, I just do ones in the area where I live, as it gets expensive flying myself and bags of books to Lower 48 book signings.

Any advice to new authors or someone who wants to become an author?

Keep writing and don’t give up, no matter what happens. You will want to throw in the towel on any given day because this is a lot of work! If you stick with it, you will have breakthroughs that make it all worthwhile. Also, join writer and author communities either in person or online, to make friends and exchange ideas. You can’t do this alone. It really does take a village to get those first books out.

Lolo says, “If it weren’t for my readers I probably would have stopped long ago. But staying in touch with them keeps me going. I have a newsletter I send out once or twice a month to update readers about upcoming books. If you’d like to join my newsletter, you can get a free prequel to my Alaska fire series on my website at lolo@lolopaige.com

You can follow LoLo on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/LoLo-Paige/author/B0872KT8QS

And on Facebook or Instagram at: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLoLoPaige and https://www.instagram.com/authorlolopaige

***

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – When writing a novel, a writer should create living people; people, not characters. A character is a caricature. — Ernest Hemingway

Taxicab Tales – Easiest $150 Ever

 Posted by at 12:03 am  Nick's Blog
Sep 012026
 

In the past, I have shared a series of stories from my days publishing small town newspapers, from a job I had selling cars, about my time in the Army, and some tales of the offbeat adventures and misadventures I’ve gotten into in a series called Nick Happens. Now, I thought I would share some stories about a period in my life many years ago when I drove a taxicab in Tucson, Arizona. Oh, some of the things I witnessed back then! I’ve told more than one prospective author that if they really want to learn about human nature, they need to become a cop, a nurse, or a cab driver. You will see the best and worst of people in any of those jobs.

We usually think someone would get into a taxicab because they needed a ride someplace, right? That’s not always the case, believe it or not. Here are two examples.

I was parked near the Greyhound bus station in downtown Tucson around midnight when a fellow walked up and got in the backseat, and said, “Just drive.” I asked where to, and he said, “It doesn’t matter, just drive, preferably someplace quiet.”

Immediately, my spidey sense kicked in. Was this fellow setting me up to be robbed, or worse? But he was a well-dressed man in his 40s carrying a leather briefcase, not like your common street thug who would hold up a cabdriver. He handed me a $50 bill and said, “Just someplace quiet, alright? I need to sleep.” Okay, whatever floats your boat.

I drove through some quiet neighborhoods while he stretched out on the back seat of the cab and seemed to fall asleep. As the meter rolled up miles, I was beginning to wonder what the heck was going on with this guy? Eventually the meter hit $50, and I wasn’t sure what to do, so I pulled to the curb and leaned over the seat and asked, “Okay, now what?” He sat up and blinked his eyes a couple of times, asked me what time it was, and then handed me two more $50s and said, “Just keep driving.” Okay, why not? I drove up through the foothills and meandered through the north side of town, keeping the radio turned low so the dispatcher wouldn’t wake Sleeping Beauty.

When the meter rolled up another $100, I again pulled to the curb and woke him. He asked where we were, and I told him, and he gave me an address near the University of Arizona. When we got there, he got out and said, “Thanks, I needed that” and went into a house. It was the last I saw of him, and I still don’t know what was going on, but it was the easiest $150 I ever made.

I also had another gentleman who would call and ask for me a couple of times a month, and all he wanted to do was drive around and talk. He told me about his marriage, which seemed to be rocky, about problems with his teenage son who was into drugs, and how he hated his job, but the pay was very good. We’d usually do this for an hour or so, and then he’d ask me to take him home. One day I asked him why he was doing what he was doing, and he said that he was overstressed and overworked and sometimes he just needed to vent. He said I was a good listener, and the cab meter only came up to $16 an hour, while a therapist cost him $100 for the same time.

I’m glad I could help him save some money and hopefully having someone to talk to who didn’t judge or argue with him was worth it.

***

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – Don’t tell a person to be strong when they come to you to be weak.

Road Trip

 Posted by at 12:41 am  Nick's Blog
Aug 312026
 

Son-in-law Kenny, grandson Travis, and I left Show Low about 5:30 Friday morning on a road trip. It was fast road trip, but we covered a lot of miles. That was okay with me because Kenny did all the driving.

We took U.S. Highway 60 east to Springerville, where we picked up U.S. Highway 191 south. The route was formally called U.S. 666, but they changed the number back in 1992 because people complained it was the “Devil’s Highway,” since the number 666 matched the “Number of the Beast” in Christian theology. So much for the separation of church and state.

In Alpine, we got on U.S.180, a winding narrow highway, and followed it into New Mexico. It took us south through Silver City, a town with a violent frontier past where Old West outlaw Billy the Kid first ran afoul of the law, and eventually connected with Interstate 10 in Deming. From there it was a lot of long miles into Texas, through El Paso and on and on.

This is a route that I have traveled many times during our life as fulltime RVers, but it was the first time for Kenny and Travis. I can’t say they were much impressed with West Texas. As day turned to night, there was a magnificent lightning display and we thought we were going to get hammered by rain, but by the time we reached Boerne, in the Texas Hill Country, it had cleared up.

We checked into the Hampton Inn, then walked to the nearby Chili’s for a late dinner before going back to the hotel and to bed. In hindsight, that wasn’t the best choice for food because Kenny got very sick after going to bed and spent much of the night hugging the porcelain throne. He looked like death warmed over the next morning, but swore he was able to get up and go.

Of course, no adventure is complete unless I screw something up. In this case, we had connecting rooms. I went through the connecting door to check on Kenny and managed to close it behind me, effectively locking myself out of the room because I didn’t have my key card. No problem, I went downstairs to the desk, they gave me a new card, and I went up to get back into my room to find that the safety lock was also engaged and could only be opened from the inside. Well, darn it. So back downstairs I went, and the young lady at the desk called their maintenance man and told him to come to work fast and get me into the room, since he was the only one who knew how to defeat the safety lock. But as it turned out, he wasn’t the only one. Travis somehow managed to bypass it with a pocketknife and got the door opened.

With my overnight bag retrieved, we got in the truck, and with a still green around the gills Kenny at the wheel, we drove another 20 miles or so to meet with a gentleman named Dave Morris. The purpose of the trip was this gorgeous 1952 Chrysler Windsor Deluxe convertible, which Dave had put up for auction on the Hagerty classic car auction website. It was made the same year Terry and I were born, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it. I had been telling Terry that I wanted to have one more old car before I die, and this was the one. I was fortunate to have the winning bid.

The car is pretty much original, with the Spitfire 264.5 cubic-inch inline-six engine and Fluid-Matic semi-automatic transmission. This transmission is new to me. It has a clutch that you depress to shift from one gear to another when first starting out. Once you have it in gear, you don’t use the clutch anymore, even at stop signs.

By then, Kenny was feeling better, and we got the car loaded onto my flatbed trailer and tied down, and were on the road again, heading for home by 10:30. Kenny said he didn’t want to take I-10 all the way again, so instead we drove north to Comfort and left the interstate to make our way northwest along a series of U.S. and state highways. We went through the oil patch and past cotton farms, and through some interesting small towns until we eventually crossed into New Mexico on U.S. Highway 380. Kenny had always wanted to see Roswell, of alien crash fame, and he was impressed enough that he wants to take Tiffany back for a weekend visit sometime.

We stayed on 380 through Lincoln County, with its own violent Old West past, and the tiny village of Capitan, where a badly burned bear cub was found after a wildfire in 1950 and became famous as Smokey Bear, mascot of the U.S. Forest Service.

More miles brought us to Interstate 25 for a short jaunt up to U.S. 60 in Socorro. This is another route I know well from our RVing days, and we took it west through the small towns of Magdalena, Datil, Pie Town, and Quemado. Four hours later, at somewhere around 11:00 PM, we were pulling into our driveway, with 1776 miles under our belt in two days. I offered to drive a couple of times, but Kenny was fine with it and let me just sit back and enjoy the ride, so I did.

It sure was good to be home and see Terry waiting for me, along with Alli, who acted like I had been gone for a month. We got the car unloaded and into the garage, and then the guys headed home with Tiffany. It didn’t take long before Terry and I were in bed.

We slept in yesterday, as did Kenny, and then spent the day puttering around the house, not doing much of anything. I must be getting old because even being a passenger princess for that long wore me out. It’s good to be back home, and I’m looking forward to getting to know my new old car. Thanks, Kenny. It was quite an adventure, wasn’t it?

***

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. You know there has to be a story behind this sign.

Thought For The Day – If it makes you happy or gives you peace, it’s not a waste of time.

A Crystal Ball

 Posted by at 12:03 am  Nick's Blog
Aug 302026
 

I had to laugh when I saw a meme on Facebook yesterday that showed an electric car stopped on the side of the road being charged by a huge generator. Someone commented that it didn’t take a crystal ball to see where this whole electric car thing was going and that it would never work.

Well, as a matter of fact, I do have a crystal ball. Okay, I don’t know if it’s really crystal or not, but it’s a glass ball, so stop being so picky. But at any rate, I don’t need that ball to tell me that the meme and the person making those comments are completely wrong. Like it or not, no matter how you love the oil industry and don’t want things to ever change, electric cars are the future. And keep in mind that this is coming from a guy who came of age in the muscle car era and loves Detroit iron. But facts are facts and reality is reality.

As an author I do a lot of research into all kinds of different things and have many different sources, from various websites and library access to a subscription to Newspapers.com, which has proven invaluable, especially in writing my Tinder Street family saga.

I love going to the website and reading old newspaper articles from the late1800s and early 1900s when they said the same thing about the horseless carriage. It was nothing but a rich man’s toy. When it ran out of gas, you’d need a horse or mule to pull it back home because they darned sure were not going to have places to get fuel located all over.

Of course, there were plenty of people who scoffed at the idea of having electricity in your house, too. Not only was it unnecessary, it was also downright dangerous! Newspaper articles and letters to the editor talked about how people would perish in infernos having all that electricity going through their wooden houses. And it wasn’t bad enough that you were going to burn up your own family, you would probably burn up the entire neighborhood! No, forget that nonsense, it wasn’t going to happen.

But you don’t have to go that far back into history to see how wrong people were. Back in the early 1970s I remember browsing through a junk shop someplace in New England and finding a big stack of photography magazines from the mid-1950s. There were several articles about how color film was just a passing fancy and would not last. Nope, black and white photography ruled and it would continue to rule forever. I read the same things about digital photography back in the early 1990s. Are you kidding me? Replacing film with some kind of computerized camera? Dream on!

Then that damn technology thing came along and changed everything. Who knew?

As battery technology evolves, and it is evolving, the demand for electric cars will increase, and we’ll eventually find charging stations just as easy to come by as gasoline pumps. No, it won’t happen today or tomorrow but it’s coming, and it won’t be all that long. I know because my crystal ball told me so.

Thought For The Day – Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do.

100 Miles From Here

 Posted by at 12:03 am  Nick's Blog
Aug 292026
 

Note: I am on the road this weekend, so here is a repost of a blog from our days of fulltime RVing.

Even if we weren’t publishing the Gypsy Journal, Miss Terry and I would still be running around the country visiting all of those little out-of-the-way places, small town museums, and historical sites that we write about. I’ve never understood people who buy an RV, go to a campground, and just sit inside and watch TV all day or play on the computer until it’s time to go down the road to the next place. You could do that back home.

People ask me where I find all the places I write about. It’s really easy. Just do a little bit of Internet research on the area where you’re at. Stop at the tourist bureaus and the Chamber of Commerce. Talk to local people. They’ll tell you about places that you never dreamed existed!

One of the popular seminars I do at RV rallies is called 100 Miles From Here. Basically, I put a digital thumbtack on a map on my computer wherever we are staying at, and start going out in circles finding places we can visit within a 100 mile radius, which is about the maximum we want to do on a day trip. You’d be surprised how much there is to see and do. Let me give you an example:

We are currently at Elkhart Campground in Elkhart, Indiana. Right here in Elkhart you can visit the RV Museum, take numerous RV factory tours, tour the Ruthmere Mansion, visit the New York Central Railroad Museum and the Midwest Museum of American Art, and stop by Grace Lawn Cemetery to pay your respects to Avery Brown, the youngest Civil War soldier, who became a drummer boy in the Union Army when he was seven years old.

copy-of-1969-stites-truck-camper-2

20 miles west of Elkhart, in South Bend, you can visit the Studebaker National Museum, Notre Dame University, and Knute Rockne’s grave at Highland Cemetery.

1904-studebaker

25 miles away in Shipshewana you can visit the huge Shipshewana Flea Market, see Amish farms and restaurants, tour the Hudson Car Museum and the Meno/Hopf Amish/Mennonite Visitor Center. Go south 25 miles to Nappanee and you can visit Amish Acres Farm.

Open that circle out to 45 miles and you’ll be in Kendallville, Indiana, home of the fascinating Mid-America Windmill Museum.

50 miles will take you to either the Hesston Steam Museum in Hesston, Indiana, or Colon, Michigan, the Magic Capital of the World.

Expand your horizons to 75 miles and you can visit the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, Indiana. Auburn is also home to the World War II Victory Museum, the Kruse Automotive and Carriage Museum, and the National Automotive and Truck Museum.

90 miles will take you to the Quilters Hall of Fame in Marion, Indiana; or to Peru, Indiana, home of the Grissom Air Museum and two excellent circus museums, along with the birthplace and boyhood home of composer Cole Porter. Or you could go north to Battle Creek, Michigan and visit the grave of abolitionist Sojurner Truth.

circus-museum

And at the 100 mile mark, the maximum distance for our day trips, you will find the Automotive Heritage Museum, in Kokomo, Indiana; Sauder Village Living History Farm in Archbold, Ohio, the Gerald Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and charming Marshsall, Michigan, home to the American Museum of Magic and the Marshall Postal Museum.

That should keep you busy for a while, and I know I missed as many places as I listed. So get out your map, start making those circles from where you are. You’ll be surprised what you might find. It’s a great big country with a whole lot to see and do. Get out and enjoy it!

Thought For The Day – The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.

Greenhouse Gone Wild

 Posted by at 12:03 am  Nick's Blog
Aug 282026
 

I may or may not have ever watched one of those Girls Gone Wild videos About sexy college co-eds cavorting on the beach wearing much of nothing at all. .And if I did, I may or may not have paused it a couple times to lust over a certain long haired blonde and a couple of redheads. But all that aside, I can tell you a thing or two about greenhouses gone wild. It seems like every couple of days Terry is out in her greenhouse trimming tomato, cucumber, and eggplants because they seem to be growing faster than Jack’s beanstalk. I wish my mom would’ve fed me some of that stuff Terry gives her plants when I was a kid. Maybe I wouldn’t be dwarf portly.

The clover I planted in the back next to the deck is also growing well. Unfortunately, Alli has decided it’s a good place for her to pee, and now I have several spots that I have to attend to once I figure out what to do about them.

Yesterday I scrounged up some short rolls of wire fencing that were left over from the previous owner, along with some makeshift stakes, and Terry and I fenced that area off so at least Alli can’t get into it and do any more damage.

Besides all of the repacking and organizing we did in the garage, yesterday Kenny and grandson Travis came over and moved two of Terry’s looms into the house. Unfortunately, her Spring loom is too wide to fit through the bedroom door where she wants to use it, so she has to take it apart a little bit to get it in there.

Kenny, grandson Travis, and I are going to have a guy’s road trip this weekend, so I won’t be online much at all. I’ll be reposting a couple of previous blogs on the days we are gone. Kenny says he is picking me up at 5 o’clock this morning. I didn’t even know there was a 5 o’clock in the morning! When did they start that? Kenny told me not to worry about it. He’s driving and I can sleep. Probably not with the kind of music he likes to listen to. 😊

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Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – In a world obsessed with being extraordinary, there is a deep peace in just being a good person.

Christmas in August

 Posted by at 12:03 am  Nick's Blog
Aug 272026
 

Terry and I have been busy the last two days rearranging things in the garage and garden shed in the back of our property, sorting through boxes of stuff we still hadn’t opened since our move from Alabama over a year ago, and deciding what to keep and what to get rid of since we haven’t needed it in a year.

Some of it has been like having Christmas in August, opening boxes and finding things that we had forgotten about. One was my DeGrazia statue, which I wrote about in a blog post titled Hello There, Ted several years ago. I was afraid it had gotten lost or damaged somewhere in the move, but when Terry found it, it was still in excellent condition. Now it sits on my desk so the old artist can watch me work. As I said in that blog post, I remember telling Ted DeGrazia that someday I wanted to write books, and he handed me a pen and a piece of paper and said, “Then write a book. Don’t wait for someday. If I never picked up a paintbrush, I would never be an artist.” How many of us have things we’ve always wanted to do but never seem to get around to?

One of the reasons for all of this sorting and reorganizing is so that Terry can get her looms set up and start weaving again. It’s been a long time, and she has missed it. And I have missed seeing the wonderful creations she makes.

It’s been in the 90s the last couple of days, and we are sure glad we had the mini-split unit installed in the garage. It has made it very comfortable working out there. Another investment that we have really come to appreciate is the 7 cubic foot Gorilla Cart that we bought a couple of months ago. I wrote about that in a blog titled She’s At It Again. This thing has proven invaluable, and I may never use a wheelbarrow again. Whether it’s hauling several big plastic totes at a time filled with things out to the garden shed, or multiple bags of potting soil, it is a workhorse. I don’t know how we ever lived without it.

I wanted to let everybody know that there’s not going to be a blog drawing this week. I’m going to be on the road and pretty much offline for a few days, and it’s too hard to keep up with the entries when I’m not near a computer. But I promise we’ll be back with a new drawing next week.

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Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – Our problems have a way of sneaking into our luggage when we’re not looking. They don’t call it baggage for nothing.

Author Spotlight – Scott Harrington

 Posted by at 12:15 am  Nick's Blog
Aug 262026
 

In an effort to introduce my readers to other authors and their work, every week I run an Author Spotlight, sharing information about an author, their work, and how they go about writing their books.

Scott Harrington is a licensed general building contractor, a NAUI SCUBA dive master, and a black-belt Ninjutsu practitioner/instructor of more than 30 years, certified by the International Bujinkan. He has been skydiving, bear hunting in Alaska, deep-sea fishing, spearfishing from Alaska to Mexico, paintball battles in off-road vehicles, SCUBA diving at sights only accessible by rope climbing down a cliff face and briefly lost in the Sea of Cortez when the dive boat could not find him. He travels as much as possible, seeking new adventures and knowledge. He is a certified wreck diver and has penetrated wrecks all over the Americas and Caribbean and even went cave diving in Mexico. He incorporates all his experience, along with extensive research, into his novels to entertain and intrigue all who read them. His Trace Conner novels are Wet Work, Lethal Blossoms, Frost Giant, Last Breath, and Mine Games. His newest novel is Makiko and the Kamikaze Blade, which features a female police officer first seen in Lethal Blossoms.

A conversation with Scott:

When did you decide to become an author and why?

I decided to become an author around 2019. I had started my first book way back in 1995. I wrote the first 20 pages or so and then just kept moving it into each new recording format. Going from a floppy disc, to a tape drive, to CD and finally USB. In 2019 I finished the first 50 pages and sent it out to a bunch of people, asking if I should continue. The consensus was yes. I chose to write because all the books I tended to read were action thrillers, but they almost always were a former military person. I felt like there was a need for a protagonist who was from a different background. When I was young, I hated English and writing. I never imagined that I would write books one day.

How long have you been writing, and what was your first book?

I really started writing in 2019, finishing Wet Work.

What genres do you write in?

My genres are generally considered thriller, I would add action, mystery, and suspense to those. I have a few ideas for science fiction novels but have not attacked any of those yet.

How many books do you have out?

I have six books out now. I am working on number seven.

Are you trade published, independent, or a combo?

I am independently published through Amazon. I need to get it out to more sellers, but I have not had the time.

What is your writing style? Panster or plotter or?

When it comes to writing style, I am definitely a pantser. In my head there is a plan, but nothing is written as a plan for any of my books. Just notes of things I know need to be in the story.

Do you write more than one book at a time?

Generally, I write one book at a time. My last two books, though, were written in a sort of overlapping fashion. Because the stories were different protagonists, it worked. I did get to a point where I had to stop working on both and finish one, so I could finish the other.

How much research is involved in your writing?

I put quite a bit of research into my writing. In the Trace Conner series, the technical aspects of each book often takes much of my time. When I have an idea what the story will be about, I begin saving news stories in a file that will then get folded into the story. Sometimes I do a lot of talking with an expert in that field and get them to review what I wrote for accuracy. My latest book, Makiko and the Kamikaze Blade, had a ton of research. Most of it was Japanese history, but some also involved research and speaking with a ballistics expert. When I do internet research, I strictly avoid Wikipedia.

Where do you write? Do you have a home office, write in a coffee shop, or what?

I write at my desk most of the time, which is in my home. I am still a full time building contractor and early mornings, when I am the only one up, is usually when I write. If I go on a trip, I will write on the plane, boat, or whatever I’m riding in. I have a tablet too, and sometimes I write while sitting in public and waiting for something.

Do you use any programs like ProWriting Aid, Grammarly, or ?

The only writing aid I use is the free version of Grammarly and I only use it to look for mistakes, like “form” instead of “from” or too many spaces between words. I never take its suggestions on how to write a phrase or line. I refuse to use any sort of artificial intelligence in my writing.

How do you promote your books?

Book promotion..that is another weak spot of mine. I do book festivals when possible, library visits, coffee shop book signings, book clubs, some Amazon giveaways, and an occasional promotional ad through a third party.

What are your writing goals, long and short term?

My goals are to be picked up by a publishing house and be able to live on my writing. I like to write stories just for the story, but to be able to write and not have to worry about another job would be amazing. I don’t care if I am famous, I just want to be able to survive…and travel.

Any advice to new authors or someone who wants to become an author?

My advice to new authors is to just do it. Write that story. It is so easy to self-publish through sites like Amazon now. You don’t have to get an agent and a book deal to tell your story, and there are people out there somewhere that want to read it, no matter what it is.

In the past, agents and publishers got to decide what was printed and what just sat on a shelf gathering dust. Not anymore. If you can write it, you can publish it. If you have the funds, you can promote it as well as the big publishers can. There are many self-published authors who have been picked up by a publishing house after they self-published.

Be sure to visit Scott’s website at https://scottharringtonbooks.com/

You can find all of Scott’s books on his Amazon author’s page https://www.amazon.com/stores/Scott-Harrington/author/B083HJZ1C4?ref=ap_rdr&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=c8c2abec-5b7a-4156-a544-141f2f6c5744

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Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – We’re past the age of heroes and hero kings. … Most of our lives are basically mundane and dull, and it’s up to the writer to find ways to make them interesting. – John Updike

Taxicab Tales – Crazy Hope

 Posted by at 12:14 am  Nick's Blog
Aug 252026
 

In the past, I have shared a series of stories from my days publishing small town newspapers, from a job I had selling cars, about my time in the Army, and some tales of the offbeat adventures and misadventures I’ve gotten into in a series called Nick Happens. Now, I thought I would share some stories about a period in my life many years ago when I drove a taxicab in Tucson, Arizona. Oh, some of the things I witnessed back then! I’ve told more than one prospective author that if they really want to learn about human nature, they need to become a cop, a nurse, or a cab driver. You will see the best and worst of people in any of those jobs.

I had only been driving a cab a few weeks when the dispatcher put out a call for anyone near the courthouse in downtown Tucson. I was nearby, and he told me to pick up “Crazy Hope” at the Pima County Courthouse on Church Avenue. Built in 1929, the historic courthouse with its elegant blue dome is one of the city’s most popular landmarks. It was always a busy area during the middle of the day, and when I asked how I would find “Crazy Hope,” the dispatcher laughed and said, “Don’t worry, she’ll find you.”

Sure enough, I pulled up to the curb and a small white-haired woman dressed in blue jeans and a flannel checked shirt, with worn cowboy boots on her feet and a battered Stetson, jumped in the back door and said, “Drive, drive fast, before they get me!”

Not sure who they were, I nevertheless took off as quickly as I could, which wasn’t much in the heavy downtown traffic. I had only gone a block or so before she crawled across the back seat and into the front passenger seat and told me to take her home. When I asked where her home was, she said her ranch on the east side, not the Cliff House. Still confused about where she needed to go, she told me to just drive and she would give me directions.

For the next half hour, she babbled on and on, telling me that she was a rich heiress and everybody thought she was crazy, but she wasn’t. She also told me about dating Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, and Cary Grant when she was a young woman, but that none of those “pretty boys” could measure up to a real cowboy, and that’s why she married Honeycutt Jones, a cowboy and musician. She went on and on about her horse ranch and occasionally had me make a series of right turns while she looked out the back window to make sure nobody was following us. By then I knew why they called her Crazy Hope.

Eventually, we arrived at a patch of desert scrubland on the far east side and went down a rough dirt path to a corral and an old mobile home. Parked on the property were three or four late-model pickups, a battered, worn-out Jeep, and a brand-new Mercedes four-door sedan. A pack of dogs, several horses, and a large bull wandered around the property. When Hope got out of the cab, they all came up to her like puppies waiting for mama to get home. Including the bull.

I told her how much the fare was, which had added up because of all the right turns we made trying to elude her imaginary pursuers, and she told me to wait and went in the trailer. I waited a long time and thought she had snuck out the back door or something and called the dispatcher to tell him so. He told me to just be patient, she would be there eventually. Meanwhile, a sheriff’s deputy pulled in behind me and got out and asked where Hope was. I told him I wasn’t sure, but my dispatcher said she would be back eventually. He laughed and said, “Yeah, she will be.”

Sure enough, Hope came walking out the door of the trailer, and I did a double take when I saw the large, long-barreled single-action Ruger .44 Magnum in her hand. The deputy didn’t seem worried at all and told me we were going to have some fun now. Okay, when does the fun start?

Hope stalked up to us and demanded to know how the Mercedes got there. The deputy told her it was her car. He had checked the registration the last time he was out. She didn’t believe him, and she handed me the massive revolver and said, “Shoot that son of a bitch.” I asked what son of a bitch she was referring to, and she pointed at the Mercedes and said, “Shoot it. They left it here to trap me.”

I looked at the deputy he said, “Do what the lady says.”

“Seriously?”

“Would I lie to you?”

I figured, what the hell, how often do you get a chance to shoot a Mercedes? So I cocked the hammer and put a round through the windshield, the muzzle blast almost deafening me. Hope jumped up and down and clapped her hands with delight and said, “Do it again. Shoot the radiator.” So I did.

Hope might have been happy with the shooting, but the bull seemed to take offense to it and started bawling at us, pawing the ground, and shaking its horns. Being the coward that I am, I got behind the deputy and told him to defend me. Instead, as the bull started walking toward us, we jumped on the hood and then the roof of his patrol car. Hope called us a couple of wimps and smacked it on the rear end and told it to shut up and get out of there, and it did.

At any rate, the meter was over $100 at that point, and Hope gave me $250, and that was the end of my day with Hope. The deputy followed me out to the main road, and we pulled over to the side. I asked him what the hell that was all about. He told me that Hope was really a millionaire, the heiress of a wealthy New England family, and had close personal ties with everybody from the Mayor’s house to the Governor’s mansion to Washington, DC.

He said she had come west as a young woman back in the 1930s, bought a house that someone had made into the side of a cliff in Redfield Canyon in the Galiuro Mountains, and owned property all over southern Arizona. She loved horses and owned a large herd of them, and when she wasn’t acting crazy (which seemed to fill up a lot of her time at that point in her life), she was the sweetest person you could ever know. And yes, those stories about her dating movie stars were probably true. He said that back in her younger days she was a real beauty.

Over the next year or so, I carried Hope around town now and then, and it was always an adventure. She was constantly sure that somebody was following her. Mostly, it was “those bastards from the Bureau of Land Management,” who had forced her to remove her horse herd from Redfield Canyon when they took over the area. I did some research on Hope Iselin Jones, and sure enough, she did come from a very wealthy and socially prominent family. She spoke flawless French, equally good Spanish, and could cuss like a trail herder just in from a long cattle drive.

When I was dispatching, I got a call for Hope needing a cab one time. I sent it out to the closest cab in the area, and the driver said, “No thanks. I don’t want to mess with her.”

Another driver said the last time he gave her a ride he made $300. The first driver came back over the radio and said, “Yeah, I made 400, and it took me $600 worth of Quaaludes to calm down afterwards!”

In her later years, Hope lived in an apartment with 24-hour care and had a full-time driver who took her out to her property every day to spend time with her horses, dogs, and the bull. She passed away in 2001 and her ashes were scattered over her C-Spear Ranch in Redfield Canyon, the land she loved. What an amazing character she was, crazy or not. You can learn more about her at this link https://www.library.pima.gov/content/redfield-cliff-house/

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – Eccentricity is usually owned by middle-class and upper-class people. If you are working class and eccentric, then you’re just mad – Timothy Spall
Timothy Spall

Brain Dead

 Posted by at 12:06 am  Nick's Blog
Aug 242026
 

I’m brain dead. That’s the only excuse I can come up with for not giving the simplest answer to one of the questions in yesterday’s Q&A blog. When describing different author styles, I said a pantster, such as me, is somebody who just has an idea to start with and takes it from there, and the story develops as they write. While that’s true, as several readers pointed out, the simplest explanation is that a pantster flies (or this case writes) by the seat of their pants.

I also messed up the other day when talking about the mini-split we had installed in the garage. I said the garage isn’t insulated, and I don’t know where I came up with that. I must have been thinking about the garage at the Alabama house, because this one is insulated and the walls and ceiling are covered with sheetrock. Don’t judge me. I’m old and senile.

But there was one place in the garage we needed to address. At some point before we bought the house, someone had cut a crude hole in the sheetrock to access the area above the ceiling and just left it that way. Yesterday, Terry squared off the opening and then framed it, using some scrap 2x4s and leftover trim molding we had laying around. We need to get a piece of wood put in the opening that we can push out of the way if we ever need to access that area. By the time we finished, it was late in the day, so we put a piece of heavy cardboard in it for now until we can get to the store.

It’s been hot and we haven’t had much rain for the last couple of days, so yesterday evening we were watering our plants and Terry’s raised garden beds. I was pleased to see that one of the rose bushes out front has some very pretty pink roses on it.

Congratulations Pam Junker, winner of our drawing for an autographed copy of Havasu Palms, A Hostile Takeover by Bobbi Johnson Holmes, it was featured in an Author Spotlight back in May. It’s the true story of one hard working pioneering family in the 20th century, and how their life’s work was stolen – a theft sanctioned by the United States Government and the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe.

For the Johnson family, 1968 was the beginning of a new adventure in a remote desert community in Southern California. They believed in the American dream, where hard work and honesty have just rewards. The family put their trust in government promises, in spite of the fact the common belief among the country’s youth was that the federal government could not be trusted. Perhaps, the family should have paid attention.

We had 33 entries this time around. Stay tuned. A new contest starts soon! Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – I don’t think bad things only happen to good people. I think bad things happen to everyone, and the way good people respond is what makes them good.

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