Jeffrey K. Walker's Blog, page 14

A Terrible Beauty

If you’re interested in anything to do with Ireland—beyond drinking that repulsive dyed-green American beer on the 17th of March—you probably know that Ireland is smack in the middle of the centenary celebration of the endgame in the centuries-long struggle for Irish independence. Having started in 2016 with the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, […]

Circa 1935

I just spent a week back in my old hometown of Skeeterville. Maybe it’s just me, but either everybody there has gotten much cooler or I’m much less of a jerk than I was in high school. I’m open to either possibility. Maybe both. Kay-Kay—NOT a Skeetervillian, she is quick to remind, well, anybody who […]

Flying in the BUFF (Part Three)

I was checking my website analytics and discovered that by far the most-read posting I’ve ever done is “Flying in the BUFF (Part Two).” I have no idea why this is so—(Part One) isn’t particularly popular, but (Part Two) is off the charts. Huh. So I said to myself, “Self, why not do a (Part […]

Tyranny of the 1099

My blog spans a rather eclectic range of topics. Mostly, it’s a reflection of stuff that a) I know a little more about than the average jamoke, and/or b) has intrigued, tickled, or annoyed me during the past week. Which makes me a lot like Andy Rooney, I suppose. And for those of you who […]

Care and Feeding of Characters

I’m still in the afterglow of the blue-ribbon win by my first novel, None of Us the Same, at last week’s writers’ conference in the Great Northwest. Let me just own up. Writers are all Sally Fields when it comes to awards—“You like me! You REALLY like me!!!” I am no exception, although I have […]

Conferencing with Writers

I’m on the road at a writers’ conference this weekend—I usually limit my intake to one per year and this is the one. Mostly because my first novel, None of Us the Same, is a semifinalist for an award in historical fiction. Thought I’d (near) live blog my weekend, just to give a flavor of […]

My Notre Dame

It had for most of us the shocking suddenness of an assassination, and in a way that’s what it was. The sight of flames tearing through the roof with savage orange fingers and illuminating the irreplaceable windows of Notre Dame with their sinister hellish glow was an emotional gut punch to everyone who has ever […]

On the Nod

Besides never losing at Whack-a-Mole, I have exactly one other indisputable talent. I’ve long been able to sleep on demand. I count that as a significant personal advantage. I’ve known plenty of people with profound insomnia. To be honest, I’ve never been able fully to empathize with them. I have buckets of sympathy, for sure—I can […]

Predestination and Fisher-Price

[I’m in the throes of pushing out the penultimate draft of No Hero’s Welcome, the last book in my WWI and 1920s historical fiction trilogy, as well as reviewing chapters of the audiobook of None of Us the Same, my first novel. It’s incredibly cool listening to a very talented narrator reading my own words […]

Bad Grandpa?

I’ve put off blogging about a very particular topic, since it seemed to me unavoidably boorish. But a Recent Happy Event has resulted in my succumbing to what I hope will be a temporary dose of impulse control disorder. So it’s time to write about grandkids. In the early hours of Monday, our daughter, Peanut, […]