Unexpected Paths

Real spies. Real lives. A hint of romance.

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    • Inside the Heads of Spies – Part 1
    • Inside the Heads of Spies – Part 2
    • NaNoWriMo With Reluctance
    • Plot vs Character
    • Reboot
    • Retreating to Write
    • So Long, Old Friend
    • Spies On The Run
    • Spy Novel Plots – Part 4
    • Spy Writing Basics – Archetypes
    • The Big Four, Plots That is – Part 1
    • The Mystery, or “Spy Novel Plot No. 2”
    • The Writing Life
    • The Writing Life – Again
    • THERE IS NOTHING LIKE A CON
    • They’re Called “Cover Stories” for a Reason
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    • What’s Next?
    • Whatever Happened to My Podcast?
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    • Writing Historical Fiction is Easy? Well . . .
    • Writing Espionage When It’s Current Events
    • Wait, There Are Food Spies?
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      • A PERFECT HATRED Excerpt
      • A PERFECT HATRED Excerpt 2
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      • END TIMES Excerpt 4
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    • A War of Deception – Winner of the 2017 New Apple Award for Excellence in Independent Publishing: Best Historical Fiction
      • Book Group Discussion Questions for A WAR OF DECEPTION
    • My Noble Enemy: A Spy Flash Novella
    • The Better Spy – A Novel in Stories
    • The Yellow Scarf: A Spy Flash Novella
    • Blood Vengeance – A Collection of Linked Short Stories
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      • Self-Inflicted Wounds
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    • Book Magnet – The Broader Concerns of All Humanity
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    • Book Magnet: What You Have To Do
    • SERIES: A PERFECT HATRED
      • Discussion Questions for A PERFECT HATRED
    • Book Magnet: A Case of Mistaken Identity
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    • SPY FLASH III: THE MOSCOW RULES
    • Old Love Does Not Rust
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  • Blog Archives 2016-2024
    • Don’t Forget the Second Bananas
    • Another Writing Year in the Books
    • November 22, 1963
    • Edit or Rewrite?
    • What I Meant Was . . .
    • What’s Next?
    • Inspiration Doesn’t Die, Only the Inspirer
    • C3 – Where You Can Find a Writing Family
    • Leaving Home is Good
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    • Undercover . . . in the CIA?
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    • Researching Historical Fiction
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    • Why Are We So Captivated by Espionage?
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    • GETTING IT RIGHT
    • 15 Years, 15 Wins
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    • Current Events or History
    • Trying to Get It Right
    • Historical Fiction or Current Events?
    • Art Imitates Life
    • Needing the Comfort of Writers When the Whole Community is Threatened
    • A Change in the Flight Plan
    • The Post-New Book Letdown
    • Why Writing Prompts?
    • Why Writers Workshops?
    • Writing on “Heavy” Topics
    • Distinguishing History from Fiction in Historical Fiction
    • Balancing History and Story
    • The Aging Writer
    • Getting It Right
    • I Stand With Ukraine
    • The Support of Writers
    • Ignore History? Not if you Don’t Want to Repeat It.
    • Should There Be Romance in a Thriller?
    • Sensitivity to History in Fiction
    • Holiday Story
    • NaNoWriMo’s Done – What’s Next?
    • New Year’s Resolutions – Did You or Didn’t You?
    • The Dark Side of Writing Thrillers
    • The Lure of Historical Fiction
    • When is Something Considered History?
    • Cover Reveal!
    • How Much Romance is Too Much?
    • We Have a Winner!
    • A Perfect Hatred: End Times Cover Reveal!
    • A Writing Renewal
    • Second-Guessing
    • TMWW&R – A Writing Retreat?
    • Not Merely a Tree
    • New Year’s Countdown
    • A Perfect Hatred – Origin Part 1
    • A Perfect Hatred – Origin Part 2
    • Origins of a Character: Maitland “Mai” Fisher
    • Origin of a Character: Alexei N. Bukharin
    • Process of Elimination?
    • Word Styling
    • Origin of a Character: Nelson
    • What’s a Bookversary? And What Does a Free Book Have to do With It?
    • Why I Love Baseball
    • Origin of a Character: The Directorate
    • Origin of a Character: Edwin Terrell, Jr.
    • Origin of a Character: Nathan Hempstead
    • TMWW&R – Part 1
    • TMWW&R – Part 2
    • Clean vs. Dirty?
    • How to Support Your Favorite Author
    • Interview with the Author – Part 1
    • Interview with the Author – Part Two
    • Where Do Your Characters Go When You Can’t Write?
    • You’re Doing THAT Again?
    • Writing is Scary!
    • Music to Soothe (or Not) the Savage Writer
    • Getting Writer’s Block in the Middle of NaNoWriMo
    • Why I Don't Write in December
    • My Writing Year in Review
    • A New Novella: A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER
    • My Dad, Nazis, and War Crimes
    • What Happens When You Type "The End" on a Series?
    • How Does a Non-Spy Write About Spies?
    • Why A Female Protagonist?
    • Life in the Time of COVID-19
    • Why a Female Protagonist?
    • George Smiley vs James Bond
    • Cold War or Cyber War = Russia
    • Q&A with the Characters
    • Books – Why I Love Them
    • A Virtual Tinker Mountain?
    • What Am I Reading?
    • My Workspace
    • The Balkans as Inspiration? (Part 1)
    • The Balkans as Inspiration? – Part 2
    • What is This Flash Publishing Thing?
    • What’s Next?
    • Podcasting – But You Won’t See Me on YouTube
    • It’s That Time of Year Again
    • When Planning Goes Wrong
    • The End – Again?
    • Old Spies Don’t Die…Until They Do
    • The Year We Wish Wasn’t
    • Book Plans
    • I Challenge You to a Reading Duel!
    • When is a Love Story Not a Love Story?
    • Why is the Cold War Still So Appealing?
    • A New Look at an Old Novel
    • Revisiting A FACE IN THE CROWD
    • A PERFECT HATRED – REVISITED
    • Recurrent Training
    • Two Days in May
    • Why Novellas?
    • Short Stories Again?
    • Talking a Buyer Out of a Sale
    • Being Uninspired
    • What is a Backlist Anyway?
    • A Most Productive Week
    • Yep, Doing “That” Again
    • Turning Backstory into a Novel?
    • Season’s Greetings and a Look Back
    • 2022 Non-Resolutions
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A Self-Interview with the Author

March 24, 2025 / unspywriter / Leave a comment
Who Am I Anyway?
March 5, 2025 / unspywriter / Leave a comment
The Big Four, Plots That is – Part 1

They’re Called “Cover Stories” for a Reason

February 19, 2025 / unspywriter / Leave a comment
They’re Called “Cover Stories” for a Reason

Plot vs Character

February 5, 2025 / unspywriter / Leave a comment
Plot vs Character

Spy Writing Basics – Archetypes

January 15, 2025 / unspywriter / Leave a comment
Spy Writing Basics – Archetypes

2024 Year in Review

November 28, 2024 / unspywriter / Leave a comment
2024 Year in Review

My Podcast is on Indefinite Hiatus

November 14, 2024 / unspywriter / Leave a comment

Please listen to this brief recording. It explains everything.

Thank you to those who have listened to the “Real Spies, Real Lives Podcast” over the past five seasons. You made it all worthwhile.

The Writing Life

October 22, 2024 / unspywriter / Leave a comment
The Writing Life

Inside the Heads of Spies – Part 2

October 4, 2024 / unspywriter / Leave a comment
Inside the Heads of Spies – Part 2

Inside the Heads of Spies – Part 1

October 1, 2024 / unspywriter / Leave a comment
Inside the Heads of Spies – Part 1

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Podcast Vers 2

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NEW – The Better Spy Audiobook

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Self-Inflicted Wounds: A Balkans Trilogy

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