10. Slippy Socks

Middle Grade book, 20 pages

2010

I got the idea for this book while driving home from work one day.

Not sure how to classify this. Probably too long or too short, depending on what category it's supposed to be. It's about a girl who likes to slide down the hall in her socks and one day slides all the way to China.

21. The Last Nice Day

Moss Motoring

Written November, 2016, published October 23, 2017

David Stuursma of Moss had asked me if i wanted to write something for the magazine. On election day, 2016, i formed the idea of this story while driving my Mini around to do some errands. It was edited down a little bit.

25. In British Racing Green

Poem, 88 lines

June 20, 2017

This is a poem about a British sports car (probably an MG) and how it is built, raced, neglected, junked, found, and restored. I sent it in to Moss Motoring but it has yet to be published.

27. Dog Days

Moss Motoring

February 6, 2018

David Stuursma liked my pictures of the Mini and my dogs and urged me to try to write something about cars and dogs. I wrote something that was mostly fiction, based on feelings and situations that i'd had. It was edited a lot, both in the point of view and the ending, but much of it is what i wrote. It appeared in the first issue of 2019.

28. Bet On Blue

Moss Motoring

Written May, 2018, published November 16, 2018

I wrote this in May, 2018 and sent it to Moss Motoring. David Stuursma liked it, but didn't want to run it in the next issue. In November i was surprised to see him publish it online-only. Too bad it won't see print, but still pretty cool.

31. Woof

Graphic Novel, 42 pages

October 20, 2018

I was visited over the summer by a mysterious cat in my house for a few days, which kept meowing and keeping me up. This is a fictionalized wordless story based on that experience, except that i changed the intruder to a dog. I can't draw at all, so this was an interesting experiment in forming a structure with very crude sketches from page to page. I like how it came out and it'd be neat to see it brought to life with a professional illustrator.

32. The Sting

Short Story, 1,400 words

May 27, 2019

Another submission to Moss Motoring that was never used. It involves a cocky guy in a Ford Mustang challenging a smart woman in a hot pink Jaguar E-type to a drag race. The magazine probably didn't want to condone breaking the law.

38. Drop Time

Short Story, 29 pages

August 25, 2020

This is not a children's book. I got the idea for this—a woman who can stop time—while walking in the woods up to Wallingford Pond with Bulo on August 14, 2020. I finished it on August 25. It's about love and war and the ability to float around while time is stopped.

40. Missus Wapachoo

Short Story, 1,600 words

October 10, 2020

The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) was having a contest—fifty scary short stories, one from each state. I had an idea for one about a ghostly mountain lion that haunts the woods and a little girl who uses its presence to get back at the bullies who torment her.

48. Alfstanagain

Short Story, 44 pages

October 17, 2021

Watching the US pullout of Afghanistan made me think about how we might have better invaded that country. I placed my ideas into the mouth of a character who is sent back in time from 2021 to 2001 with the chance to change things.

50. The Railroad Man

Short Story, 1,600 words

March 10, 2022

The SCBWI scary story contest was extended because they needed entries from a few states, one of which was Pennsylvania. Since i’d spent a lot of years there, i wrote and submitted a story about a strange railroad worker out of time, haunting a picnic area near a small lake. I set it near where our summer house is in Sullivan County, using some local names, like Bear Wallow and Masten.

55. Three Minutes Out

Short Story, 3,000 words

November 4, 2023

I’d been toying with the idea of writing an entire story that took place in the three minutes it takes for someone to get somewhere. This isn’t quite that, but the “three minutes out” timing is a key piece of the plot. It’s about a captain and pilot zooming into a settlement colony on a faraway planet with life-saving supplies, but maybe they’re too late.