Bass Blog

I fished in a new place last week. Along the river near home there are four or five spots I know well and go to often, but there also a dozens of miles of backwater not only not visited by me, but also hard to get to by anyone not in a canoe or kayak. Some of my...

Anonymity

In 2003, my publisher and I planned the release of my first book to coincide with a speech I was to give at a conference. On the plane ride home after the speech, I was seated in an aisle seat near the front of the coach section. As attendees from the conference...

The Appeal of The Moonstone

Fun has become the prime determinant in what I read. When I go to the library these days, I check out five books knowing I’ll finish only two. If, after the first thirty pages, I don’t care about a novel’s plot, I put it aside. There is too much fun stuff out there to...

Fishing and Writing

If I had to rank my favorite recreational pursuits, I’d probably settle on fishing and writing as my top two.  The other day, while I was writing about fishing, I wondered how two such disparate activities could reside side by side at the top of my list. Hunting and...

On Writing

The other morning I was sitting in a coffee shop when my friend Sam walked in. He asked how my writing was going, and I told him that I was putting in the time without much to show for it. He replied that he’d just read a research article that suggested that writers...

Fishing with an Old Man

Initially my Taiwanese father-in-law did not like me. There were several reasons for this. I was divorced. I was American. I was too old for his daughter (I was 38 years old, she was 31). I was taking her from her home in Taiwan, and I did not have a job waiting for...
Steven Simpson