DWIGHT HOLING

Short Arm and the Wood Duck Box

Short Arm and the Wood Duck Box

Call it ironic, a twist of fate, or a case of life imitates art. For the past year, I’ve been writing the latest installment in my Nick Drake mystery series. The Demon Skin features a raging river as the principal setting while a deadly whitewater raft trip serves up...
Author Talk

Author Talk

Snow, birds, and words were flying on my recent road trip through Harney County, Oregon scouting locations for my next Nick Drake Novel and stopping by the Harney County Library in Burns for a lively conversation with local readers and writers about how I made the...
Brothers and Swans

Brothers and Swans

Here in the West reports of temperatures reaching 125 degrees in places are, well, downright chilling. The wildfire season got an early start. California has already seen over 2,700 wildfires, burning five times more land compared to this time last year. A historic...
Finding Light Among the Flames

Finding Light Among the Flames

The official “Evacuation Warning” came yesterday, the first in a set of commands that are simple in wordage yet portentous in meaning. The warning was no surprise. Annie and I have been closely monitoring the news ever since two of the 12,000 lightning...
Keeping It Real

Keeping It Real

The facts of life of fiction writing, plus a video with clues about the next Nick Drake novel I’m rushing to write this because I need to get back to my current work-in-progress. I owe an explanation to readers who’ve asked how could I leave Nick Drake in the...
Powerful Medicine

Powerful Medicine

How readers help this writer stay the course When I completed my latest Nick Drake novel, “The Shaming Eyes,” I experienced a hangover of sorts, a mix of satisfaction, exhaustion, and restlessness. It turns out that’s not uncommon among writers. A clever yet...