I do lots of work for lots of different outlets, but there are a few publications (online and print) that I work with regularly, including HowStuffWorks.com, which is part of the Discovery network. I’ve been writing for their Autos channel since 2008 — nearly three years — and the most important thing I’ve learned from [...]

I am writing this at my desk, in my office, on Memorial Day, which is officially a holiday in the United States, yet here I am at my desk. Most people are camping this weekend — or as a friend of a friend on Facebook called camping, “drinking near trees.” I did not leave town [...]

Laundry
Dishes
Taken on new paying projects — not necessarily well-paying, and not necessarily fun, and not necessarily platform-building
Read other people’s novels for inspiration
Read the New Yorker for instruction
Read magazines for distraction
Pondered whether I should use laptop or paper and pen
Pondered rewriting chapter 1 already, though I’m only on chapter 8
Pondered the length of my nails
Cut my [...]

I don’t mean that kind of intimate, you filthy perv. Unless you think questions about freelance work are sexy. Then yes, my hour as a speaker at Indigo Editing’s Brown Bag series was totally hot.
A few months ago, my friends Kristin and Ali (founder of Indigo) asked if I would be available to answer questions [...]

I recommend that all writers — all creative people, really — fine, everyone — at least, anyone who overuses hyphens and discursive sentences — have a dog. I have one; his name is Danny. You can find out more than you ever wanted to know about Danny at my other blog, The Active Dog Chronicles. [...]

Though Twitter has only been around a couple of years, it’s spawned a little industry of books on how to effectively use it — and a big group of Twitter haters. I use Twitter and have for a long time, if we’re measuring time in Internet terms rather than, say geologic terms. Here’s my Twitter [...]

Basically, you have two options for lunch as a freelancer: eat in or go out. Let’s explore the options for and implications of each.
Eat in
First of all, do not eat at your desk. That is for sad people with “regular” jobs who have to work in cubicles. You are not that person. You are a [...]

During the last session of the Willamette Writers Conference on Sunday, the workshop I was really looking forward to, my pen died. Nothing but dry scratches on the paper. Luckily, I was sitting next to a friend who is also a mom, so she had a pen I could borrow. Moms are more prepared than [...]

We have been planning for months on attending an old friend’s wedding out of town. We made arrangements for the dog and put off adopting a kitten. And I made the painful choice to not attend the Willamette Writers Conference in my own city, despite having two book proposals ready to go, plus two completed [...]

Recently, one of my favorite editors at one of my favorite freelance gigs sent out an email announcing that we all — staff and freelancers alike — were being given “breathing space” for a few weeks. I don’t know if this is a euphemism for being a bit broke, or if things really were getting [...]

I have been practicing aikido, a non-violent Japanese martial art, for over five years. Thanks to work, family, and adopting an active dog, my four-times-a-week regular practice has been shot to pieces over the last few months. And I felt terrible about it.
My first stab at a solution was to train through it, as they [...]

After a hectic couple of weeks where I’d overbooked myself (literally — I was editing two books at once), I got a reprieve. I took two days mostly off, followed by a light workweek. But rather than spending that time playing video games or watching Tyra and Ellen and Oprah and her afternoon TV minions, [...]

I don’t usually do new year’s resolutions. I would rather fix what needs fixing when it needs fixing rather than make a list in the last week of December of things I’d like to do in the next twelve months.
But, of course, there are things that happen to need fixing right now — not the [...]

I went to SEMA in Las Vegas this year, and then the L.A. Auto Show a month later. The Lexus LFA supercar was at both shows, and I took pictures both times to share with my readers on About.com. I’m the Guide to Exotic Cars there, and a $400,000 exotic from Lexus is pretty newsworthy. [...]

I’ve never been to Los Angeles, or to its auto show. I’m headed out tomorrow to check both of those things off my list of never-dones. Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, and Bentley all pulled out, but Rolls, Aston, Porsche, and the Lexus LFA will still be there. So that’s cool, right? Right?

After three years with a freebie web site designed in about 30 seconds by a friend — who was kind to give it even that much time — I finally upgraded to something a little less out of the box.
It’s much easier to find my work now, and to find the latest Internet and print [...]

It’s backwards day here at KHG HQ, but this article is for real. I wrote “5 Reasons Not to Buy a Hybrid” for HowStuffWorks.com.

I recently did an email interview for Main Street Motors’ “Ask the Experts” section where I waxed poetic on the future of exotic cars, the exotic car business, and which exotics are my faves. A few fellow Autos Guides from About.com have been interviewed as well, so you can check out their two cents’ worth [...]

Went back for more racing. This time, the world’s fastest EV KillaCycle got several runs in, and a few of them were against a miniature RC electric version of itself. People from the Discovery Channel were there to film the tiny action.
Michael Kadie gave me a ride around the parking lot in his electric T-bucket [...]

I went to the Wayland Invitational electric drag races last night and took a zillion pictures. Approximately. You can see some of the best, including Killacycle, the world’s fastest electric vehicle, on my Flickr page. I’m going back to the track in about 20 minutes for the Saturday night edition of electric-vehicle racing.

After spending the night at a friend’s house in Eugene (keg of Ninkasi! giant chocolate cupcakes! hot tub!), I stopped by Grand Prix Imports in Wilsonville, Oregon, to see the new Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670-4 SV with its iridescent yellow paint. They had doors and engine hood up, and they even fired up the 12-cylinder [...]

My latest article for the New York Times, this time on the Brammo Enertia electric motorcycle, made print yesterday. It came out just in time for the Enertia’s world debut in New York on Tuesday — though the bike is made in Ashland, Oregon.

Wednesday night, Bridge City Comics in Portland, Oregon, hosted a release party for the Pacific Northwest College of Art’s graphic novel anthology, “Intense.” Since Bridge City is the shop with all my comic subscriptions (my box is on the bottom in the middle), I swung by to say hi and pick up my copy. Five [...]

The two events I’m most looking forward to this summer (so far) are already penned into my calendar: the Northwest Automotive Press Association’s Run to the Sun and the National Electric Drag Racing Association’s Wayland Invitational IV.
NWAPA’s event involves driving 18 or so sports cars and convertibles through the mountains of Central Oregon for two [...]

After a week of SEO soul-searching (is it killing my writing? am I writing for people or an algorithm?), I’ve decided to join the 21st century and learn how to optimize my keywords. I even bought a book about it.
I don’t love SEO — this isn’t the natural, flowing language I’ve cultivated in my work [...]

As of today, my About.com site is live! Visit it at http://exoticcars.about.com/. The content is a bit thin right now, but I’ve got lots of articles and blog posts in the pipeline.
I’m at Mudfest in Auburn, Washington, right now test driving 22 SUVs over two days, so it’ll be next week before I get anything [...]

Got another last-minute assignment (actually, two) from Portland Monthly. This one required interviews with Mike Richardson, founder and president of Dark Horse Comics in Milwaukie, and Helen Spalding at the Portland State University library. Both were great interviews, and it reminded me that I needed to pick up my stack of comics in my slot [...]

Join me in welcoming myself to the twenty-first century: this site now allows for comments on posts on this very home page. Feel free to read the PDFs mentioned in the posts then come back here to tell me how insightful you found the articles to be. Just click on the title up there to [...]

The latest issue of Lloyd Life, one of the Oregonian’s many publications, has my story on model trains on the cover. I’m not sure where to pick up a copy, other than by being in the Lloyd District neighborhood; the paper sends me a copy. If you’d like to see the article, visit my Clips [...]

I’ve got the official word: My article about auto museums and the clever things they do to lure new visitors will be published in the New York Times Sunday, August 12. As soon as I get a link and a clip, I’ll put them on this site.

I just got my copies of the July/August issue of Ultimate, which has my article about the Ariel Atom inside. Also, my first bylined article for the New York Times will run on Sunday, August 5. It’s about the unexpected things auto museums do to lure new visitors and keep them coming back.

Friday, July 13, the new issue of “Explore the Pearl” will be available in the Portland, Ore., area. My article, “Season of Festivals,” showcases the festivals and fund raisers in the city’s Pearl District neighborhood. I’ve got an advance copy in here in my office; I’ll post a PDF on the Clips page when the [...]

The summer issue of “Classic Style” magazine published a guide to Portland that I wrote for the dapper gent, including hotels, restaurants, and shopping. The five-page spread begins on page 49 of the issue.

I just uploaded the PDF of my five-page review of the top 10 cars at the Portland International Auto Show. You can find it by clicking on “Clips” to the right.

The new article is the latest Know + Tell Rides page in the June/July issue of Details. The clip is available by clicking on the link to the right. The one I forgot about was in the April issue of Ultimate magazine. I wrote about ten hot cars for 2007 after visiting the Portland Auto [...]

I just found out that GQ Mexico has purchased the reprint permissions to a piece I wrote for Details; it will run in a future, as-yet-undetermined issue. And I am given credit for contributing reporting to the latest auto events calender in the New York Times.

I’ve been tapped to write the Know + Tell Rides page for Details for the next few months. The May issue, my first, hits newsstands in late April. Until then, here is a link to the web site. If you “click here for the slideshow,” the first slide is the 1929 Duesenberg that I wrote [...]

In an effort to ease the burden of editors’ inboxes everywhere, I’ve added a page of clips. Click on the new “Clips” category in the menu on the right to find a page with links to PDFs of my work.

I reviewed three 50-cc scooters – Kymco, Sym, and Vespa – for the Oregonian’s DriveTime section. The article, plus a sidebar on motorcycle endorsement license requirements, appeared in the March 31, 2007 edition of the paper.

The February 25 issue of Ultimate magazine, a publication of the Oregonian, has an article and timeline I wrote about the new incarnation of Dutch auto manufacturer Spyker.

The February issue of PDX Magazine contains two gallery previews written by me – see them on page 48.

I recently had a short piece published in Explore the Pearl, a publication of the Oregonian , that featured several items for decluttering home and office.

The January 2007 issue of PDX Magazine has three short gallery previews that I wrote on page 52.

My latest publication credit is “Listen and Yearn” in the December/January issue of Ultimate magazine, a publication of the Oregonian. I also assembled items and wrote captions for three gift guides in this same issue of Ultimate, without published credit.

The new issue of SCM is hitting subscribers’ mailboxes this week, and the 1000-word profile of automotive artist Charles Maher that I wrote is on page 132.

The November issue of PDX Magazine is out, and my review of the BMW X3 is on page 51.

My latest clip is electronic – a B2B web site for the pet industry. See my first two articles here; I’ll be writing and editing for VerticalPet.com for the foreseeable future.

I have two one-page pieces in the November issue of Sports Car Market magazine: an essay on attending concours and races in Monterey, CA, this past August, and my final Neat Stuff column. I’ll have a new article, on auto artist Richard James, in the December issue of SCM.

The October 2006 issue of PDX Magazine, available for free throughout the Portland, OR, metro area, is out, and my review of the Maserati Quattroporte is on page 53.

I’ve just finished my first auto review column for PDX Magazine. My write-up of the Maserati Quattroporte will be in the October issue, available throughout Portland, OR, and online. I’ll post a link when it’s up.

I’ve been updating the automotive calendar for the New York Times for about six months or so; the latest version in print was published August 6, 2006. Previous print editions were under the title “Wheel Spin,” and were a half-page; as the season winds down, the calendar of events takes up less space. For the [...]

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