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Life provides its own bit of entertainment, and I try to capture the conflict and joy that arise from what we experience every day. My stories offer a brief respite from this crazy life, and I hope you enjoy them. There’s something new every Friday.
Pull up a spot next to the campfire. Subscribers receive special access to exclusive content, including new stories, a guide to the “Space Between” the novels, soundtracks, and more...
I never tell my stories to stay in their lane. My problem is that I’m creating a 10-lane superhighway while also writing a huge 747 on the fly.
This Substack exists because my stories are annoying, and they have a mind of their own.
They’ll come when I’m sweating on the stairmaster at the gym. They’ll come when I’m on the road, when I should be driving distracted with my audiobook. They’ll come when my wife is trying to tell me something important. Sometimes, these story ideas do not act in my best self-interest. But they appear, demanding a place to live, not just on a bookshelf, but in the in‑between spaces where ideas form, characters evolve, and the creative process gets messy, joyful, and real.
Welcome to Salted Wetzel with a Side of Mustard.
It’s where the world I’ve been building can stretch out a little. Where the stories that don’t fit neatly into a novel still get to breathe. Where readers who care about character, connection, and the emotional undercurrent of storytelling can gather around the same fire.
My writing journey started in 1990 with a tiny high school newspaper byline taped to my parents’ fridge. This was a moment that didn’t change my life, but did confirm something important: I’m a writer. Since then, life has taken me through journalism, public relations, politics, and the typical suburban life that includes family trips, homework on the kitchen table, sitting outside dance class, and building Legos on a bedroom floor. Writing sat in the garage for a while, but it never disappeared. And when it returned, it wanted me to lay on the gas.
On a Wi‑Fi‑less flight in 2018, I opened a laptop and wrote the first chapter of what became Friends in Low Places. That spark reignited everything. Since then, the universe has expanded through Lose Yourself, multiple serials, and now The Piano Man Chronicles, a two‑year anthology experiment in which music, memory, and unexpected connections shape the narrative.
This Substack exists because creativity isn’t confined to a novel at a time. It also exists because these stories are part of your community. Salted Wetzel is a community that is helping me refine what makes these stories better. Writing this Substack allows me to experiment, play out scenarios, share behind‑the‑scenes glimpses, and character crossovers that define the moments when a reader says, “I saw myself in that.”
The lanes all converge here at the Salted Wetzel With a Side of Mustard. Pull up a chair to see old friends, meet new ones, and maybe gain some insights from behind the pages.
Have you subscribed?
There are multiple benefits to subscribing. All subscribers receive a link to The Space Between: The Ultimate Guide to FILP-Verse. This is my exclusive space for subscribers to go behind-the-pages of my stories, gain new insights, read new short stories, and much more.
The Piano Man Chronicles
The Piano Man Chronicles is an anthology built on a wonderfully odd idea:
a collection of stories connected only by a novel that doesn’t actually exist… well, except in the lives of the characters who encounter it.
That novel, The Piano Man by fictional author Thomas Eberle, drifts through these stories like a quiet ripple. Each three‑part arc introduces new people, new places, and new turning points, but the shared thread is how this one book nudges something in each of them.
Some characters read it.
Some argue with it.
Some only know it because someone they love won’t stop talking about it.
But for all of them, The Piano Man becomes a spark — a moment of reflection, change, or connection.
This project is meant to feel like wandering through a neighborhood at dusk, catching glimpses of lives in motion. You’re not following one plot; you’re following the echo of a story inside a story, watching how art lands differently in every life it touches.
If you love character‑driven fiction and subtle connective threads, The Piano Man Chronicles is an open invitation to follow along and see where the music leads next. (Quick hint: Piano Man may not remain a faux-novel. I am considering something new. Stay Tuned)
Space Between: The Substack Stories
The Space Between is the spine of Salted Wetzel. This collection of stories shaped this universe from the edges. These are intentional moments written between novels, the character detours, the emotional side paths, and the scenes that deepen everything without demanding center stage. Over two and a half years on Substack, these pieces have become the hidden architecture of the world, and the anthology brings them together in a polished, cohesive collection.
At its core is the newly rebuilt Capitol Rookie, now a sharper, darker crime‑noir thriller. What began as a serialized experiment has been reworked from the ground up — plot holes sealed, motivations tightened, tension dialed up. It follows a young political reporter navigating Sacramento’s murky intersections of power and corruption, where every truth has a price. If you read the original serial, this version reveals the story it was always meant to be.
However, the anthology extends beyond a single narrative. It includes character‑driven vignettes, emotional snapshots, and connective threads that enrich Friends in Low Places, Lose Yourself, and the stories still unfolding. Each piece stands alone, but together they reveal the world behind the world.
Look for the Print and e-book versions coming this summer.
Fridge Philosophies
Fridge Philosophies is where the small truths, reminders, reframes, and everyday wisdom are written on a magnetic whiteboard attached to our collective fridge because they’re worth seeing more than once. I don’t intend these as lectures. Instead, they're my Substack “Aha” moments. They are not-so-perfect pros on explaining creativity, life, doubt, momentum, and meaning. They’re meant to ground us, spark something, or simply make us feel a little less alone in the chaos.
The CHOW Interviews
The CHOW (Creative Hero on Writing) Interviews pull back the curtain on the creative process. These conversations explore how ideas form, how projects survive the messy middle, and how creators keep going when the spark flickers. It’s part craft talk, part therapy session, part “oh thank God, it’s not just me.” The goal is simple: to build a community where creativity feels shared, not solitary.