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We were fortunate enough to interview Jim Butcher for Tikiman and the Viking Podcast. He was very engaging and came across as a teacher more than a best-selling author. His work is a mix of fantasy and noir. There are not a lot of writers who can pull off the notion of mixing genres with any degree of success.

You could be starting out as a writer or have a couple of books under your belt. Maybe you’ve sold some but want to sell more. Perhaps you’ve immersed yourself in one genre and want to jump to another. Everywhere you go, any place you look, there will be countless resources for advice and suggestions. There are blogs, message boards, online and in-person critique groups, writers’ clubs, writers’ conferences, writers’ workshops, seminars.

I started writing historical crime fiction in 2016, with the first book of the Ark City Confidential Chronicles published in 2017. The series was completed in 2021. The new series, the Wichita Chronicles is underway. Book Four and Five will complete the series. There is a new historical crime fiction series that has been started. When I look back at old WIP, I find a stand-alone historical crime fiction and a 50’s styled pulp novel/novella still in first draft stage.

I truly believe that all you need to be a writer (or any artist for that matter) is Time and Inspiration. At least, these are needed as the basest things to pursue the art. Of course, patience, persistence, diligence, and as modicum of talent are parts of the puzzle as well, the ongoing elements to proceed. But to start, just those two things.

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I’ve been baking bread for quite some time. It started out with just two offerings for the holidays: a braided challah for Thanksgiving, and a dill bread from a recipe by my wife’s late grandmother. Over the course of time, I’ve gotten better at braiding the challah, going from a simple two to three and then four. They look great. Once I got a KitchenAid® Stand Mixer, it was as though I were shot out of a cannon.

As of July 2025, Brian Johnson and I celebrated two years running the Tikiman and the Viking Podcast. The vibe has been the same throughout: conversational in nature, no “gotcha” type questions, and a deep interest in how our guests create as well as discussions on our own writing adventures. We have done everything we could to expand our footprint because we believe in what we do.

For several weeks, my friend and co-host of Tikiman and the Viking Podcast, Brian Johnson, has referenced an old W.I.P. of mine from back when we were in a critique group together. It was a NaNoWriMo effort from several years ago titled “The Stooges.” Now, it’s not about THOSE Stooges but fashioned after them in a small way. It is an episodic crime fiction in which three bumbling losers get the brilliant idea to go in on a caper together…and, well, things fall apart.

I began to notice the man character in my Wichita Chronicles series sometimes takes issue with the wealthy people who hire him. After WWII, lucky enough to get an apartment in a city which saw an influx during the war, he should be happy with whatever cases he gets and for the income he receives. But Harold Bergman is different than the typical detectives found in most of the hardboiled tropes.

The best thing a writer can do is to venture beyond their comfort level. Whether it is genre or medium, you can’t sharpen a dull knife. It’s important to maintain your edge. I have written plays, screenplays, short stories, novels, and poems. However, shorter fiction was new to me, what is called Flash Fiction. When I had the chance to spread my wings, so to speak, I took advantage.