9-21-12 | A moving tribute/essay by my Red Circle coauthor Brandon Webb appeared today on the New York Times blog, “At War.” The piece is entitled “A Letter to My Friend Glen Doherty.”

9-13-12 | There is an email in my IN box, from five days ago, from Glen Doherty, author and ex-Navy SEAL. He was working on editorial notes for a manuscript I’d done some work on.

8-25-12 | A few weeks ago, Ana and I celebrated the fourth anniversary of our wedding day. This was not as easy as it might sound. You see, up to that point we had been batting only about .333 on anniversaries together.

8-5-12 | The other night Ana and I drove a few hours to go hear two of the UK’s finest mystery writers, Sophie Hannah and Tana French, read from their newest novels and answer questions. They were both amazing — personable, hilarious, generous, brimming over with intriguing insights into their own processes.

8-3-12 | I’m writing a book. Have been for weeks. Up until today, it’s felt like I was wielding a machete, hacking my way through gigantic hostile jungle plants as I made my way deeper and deeper into a dark, unknown forest.

5-6-12 | In 1999, I lived for a brief time in an apartment about a block from a Barnes & Noble bookstore. I used to go over there every day or two to and stand at the front racks, imagining that there was a book with my name on it right on the front table.

5-5-12 | A friend just sent me a copy of a book entitled Attitude Is Everything, by Jeff Keller. The subtitle reads, “Change Your Attitude … Change Your Life!” and the book’s introduction leads off with this famous quotation:

4-18-12 | I love coming up with epigraphs, those little quotes, snippets of inspirational verse, bits of lyrics, or lines from a film that authors sometimes stick up at the top of chapters, like philosophical Post-it Notes, to set a certain tone or theme.

4-9-12 | Here is that passage I promised, from the last part of chapter 1 of The Red Circle (which launches tomorrow). First let’s set the stage:

4-8-12 | With forty-eight hours to go to The Red Circle’s launch, I thought I’d share the opening of chapter 1.