The Kill Switch by James Rollins and Grant Blackwood My rating: 5 of 5 stars View all my reviews “The Kill Switch” (William Morrow 2014) is the first in James Rollins’ and Grant Blackwood’s new series about former Army Ranger Tucker Wayne and his working dog, Kane (#2 planned for next year). In this opener, …
A while ago, I wrote a post about what I’d wished I’d known before I started blogging. You can read the article here; I’ll summarize the six gold nuggets for new bloggers: only reblog 10% of someone else’s post. hot links are bad. it takes a long time to write a post I need to …
In the past quarter, I’ve posted about 40 articles on topics ranging from writer resources, how-to’s, descriptors, and opinions. I like to step back a few times a year and determine what readers are most interested in. WordPress makes that easy with their statistics. Here’s this period’s run-down: 51 Great Similes to Spark Imagination 178 Ways …
This is inspired by Jennifer Cohen over at Forbes who wrote a wonderful article on “5 Things Super Successful People Do Before 8am” (few of which I did, though I can claim #5). She includes chores like exercise, eat a healthy breakfast, map out the day–all great ideas, but not pithy enough for the average …
I recently started a Writer’s Workshop with Richard Bausch. I–and ten other future-great-authors–get to spend about two hours a week with this master of short stories, pithy novels, and literary fiction. Over the fourteen weeks this will take, I intend to share his wisdom and my epiphanies with you. So far, I find him wise, …
When I write, I have no control over when I will need to research and when I’ll write-write-write. And if I need to search for detail, there’s no telling how long it’ll take. I’ve been known to spend a week–ten days–uncovering the information my story requires. I don’t know what it is until I find …
Since I started this blog fifty-four months ago, I’ve had over 685,000 visitors, 3300 on my busiest day, visiting the 948 articles I’ve written on every facet of writing. As with most bloggers, I write what’s on my mind 3-4 times a week. It may be about the craft of writing, trends in the industry, …
I didn’t know who David Gerrold was, but I sure as heck knew what he wrote. David Gerrold wrote over 50 books, several hundred articles and columns, and over a dozen television episodes for various Star Trek series, but the only one that matters is the amazing Trouble With Tribbles (reprised in the last Star …
The Runaway Brain: The Evolution of Human Uniqueness by Christopher Wills My rating: 5 of 5 stars View all my reviews In my lifelong effort to understand what makes us human, I long ago arrived at the lynchpin to that discussion: our brain. Even though bipedalism preceded big brains, and we couldn’t be who we …
I’m reposting this from Today’s Author, for anyone who didn’t read it there: My efriend, Kirk Allmond, had a hilarious run down of what NOT to say to a writer. Well, they were all true, but I still couldn’t stop laughing. Truisms like, “Leave a writer alone when they’re writing. You have no idea how …
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make …
Bunyoro: An African Kingdom by John Beattie My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my book reviews Man’s path from paleo-history is a fascinating study. Since our records of that era is confined to rocks and natural artifacts, those like me who want to understand what man was like in that time must extrapolate …
Starting my blog, I thought was the hard part. That first post–putting myself on the line, ignoring that I had no hits, wanting to approve comments from spammers because that would look like someone loved me. The second post was easier and so it went. But somewhere around the twentieth post, I figured out that …
I went to my bi-weekly writer’s critique group last night. We get submittals ahead of time, gather our thoughts and comments, and then each of us gets 5 minutes during the meeting to share our suggestions. This week, we were reviewing the work of one of my favorite group authors–we’ll call her Mari. She is …
I really struggled with this title. The post isn’t about writing comedy. That’s a useful genre, but one not particularly suited to novels. I think of comedy writers as working for the Letterman Show or a politician as a speech writer. Maybe a motivational speaker’s assistant. You think those are odd choices? Not really. Humor …
Every genre is different when you’re an author. Romance stories don’t follow the same rules as mysteries, or westerns. I didn’t know that for a long time. Sure, I knew each genre had a favored word count, from 45,000 for YA (at the low end) to 120,000 for thrillers. But I didn’t know there was …
I enjoyed reading about the life of pygmies so much, I next read Tepilit Ole Saitoti’s The Worlds of a Maasai Warrior. Another great book–wow. How other people live while I’m snug from the weather with plenty of food is amazing. Tepilit grew up on the Serengeti, drinking milk for breakfast, herding cows all day, …
As I was considering last month’s post for Today’s Author, I jumped to a ponderment (I’m a writer; I’m allowed to make up words). Who exactly is Today’s Author. Are you different from Yesterday’s Author? Or My Mother’s Author? Or the guy with his name on thousands of books and hundreds of contracts? Why do …
Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton My rating: 5 of 5 starts View more of my reviews For those of you who think cyber-intel and technology are the tools of war, read Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton. What an eye-opener. Here’s an excerpt: “…the dramatic account of a small band of Special Forces soldiers who…rode to …
This post is for Alex Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writers Support Group (click the link for details on what that means and how to join. You will also find a list of bloggers signed up to the challenge that are worth checking out). The first Wednesday of every month, we all post our thoughts, fears or words … Continue reading
People have lots of different ways to talk. Some use lots of hand gestures, some are clipped, some barely move their faces. In writing, it’s important to include those details–especially if they’re unique–so readers feel more like they’re involved in the conversation. Here’s a list I collected of favorite ways my favorite authors have verbalized … Continue reading
Endangered by C.J. Box My rating: 5 of 5 stars View all my reviews I’d never heard of C.J. Box, author of “Endangered (A Joe Pickett Novel)” (Putnam 2015) when this book appeared in my Amazon Vine list. I picked the book because it got good reviews and is the fifteenth in the Joe Pickett … Continue reading
Over half of our communication is done with body language, not words. I study it so I can characterize the people in my books–their actions, hand gestures, facial expressions–and it has taught me a lot about reading people’s interior monologue–those ideas they don’t want to share, but inadvertently do. Even the best speakers have a … Continue reading
I want to share three items I’ve discovered that help organize my desk-related items like nothing else I’ve tried. These are much more than a ‘pencil caddy’ or an eraser for ink. These three popped a light bulb over my head, significantly improving my ability to get the job done while sitting at my desk. … Continue reading
Gray Retribution by Alan McDermott My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews Gray Retribution: A Tom Gray Novel Book 4 (Thomas Mercer 2014) by Alan McDermott is the fourth in the Tom Gray series, about an ex-SAS warrior who’s created a career out of teaching vulnerable countries to defend themselves against attacks. … Continue reading
In the fall, I ‘restarted’ a book I first wrote about ten years ago. It was my second full-length novel. The first was an arcane topic I knew would interest few, so wasn’t surprised at the lackluster greeting my queries received. Undeterred and on the advise of a publisher who liked my writing but not … Continue reading
Often in my novels, I use digital devices to create havoc in my plot. There are so many ways to do that–electronic eavesdropping, cloning smartphones, stealing wifi signals–that I now keep a list of the devices and purposes. See if any of these motivate–or frighten–you. A note: These are all from novels I’ve read and … Continue reading
The Forgers by Bradford Morrow My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews Bradford Morrow’s “The Forgers“ was a bit of a leap for me. I don’t read a lot of literary fiction because it usually includes long-winding sentences that preach about important subjects that I may not be important to me. But … Continue reading
After thirty years of marriage, Valentine’s Day has changed in my house. I’m fine with that. I have no interest fighting the crowds, receiving chocolate I can’t eat, or spending too much money on a restaurant when my husband is a better cook than most chefs. If you’re like me and want to stay home, … Continue reading
