In general, I’ve been told my plots are complicated and it’s hard to follow all the characters. I find truth in that, and I have been trying to apply that feedback to my writing. I don’t want to write plots that are simple or don’t have moving parts, but if it’s not clear enough for people to follow it, that needs to be addressed. That said, the most specific criticism I’ve received really stuck with me. A marine reached out to me shortly after The Hubley Case was published and said, “There’s so such thing as an ex-Marine. Use ‘former’.”

I still have that e-mail. And to this day, it’s one of my biggest writing regrets. I have tremendous respect and appreciation for the men and women in uniform, and to think that I unintentionally rubbed them the wrong way in my writing still gives me pause.