You’re a veteran author who once held a security clearance. Congratulations! It makes you an expert. But it also means you signed a SF 312 once. Maybe decades ago. Time doesn't matter. That signature is a forever requirement. Every manuscript you write requires DOPSR approval. For life. Here's what veteran authors should know and what civilian writers should understand.

The writing world is filled with landmines. One of the newest beartraps is the incursion of AI into the writing process. I just want to write prose the way I’ve done it for twenty years. But it’s not good enough anymore. I’m forced to spot AI triggers like some vampire hunter. Em dashes. Structure. Words hijacked by AI. This is what it means to write in the age of LLMs.

My right scanner called 'Missile launch, three o'clock.' I had seconds to respond. In 26 years of flying combat missions and ten years trying to publish my work, I've encountered adversity in three distinct forms: external, internal, and imposed. Each demands the same response.

My screenplays wouldn't sell in Hollywood. I wasn't famous, had no attached stars, and my work wasn't based on existing IP. So I adapted them into novels. Here's what changed when I went from 112 pages to 100,000 words, and why the novels are better.

Why does every action movie want to be Die Hard and then fail? The problem isn't the spectacle. The problem is that we simply don't care. Die Hard's first fifteen minutes are a masterclass in character work that most action movies skip entirely. Here's what they're missing.