Recently I heard one of my favorite writers, Ron Rash, speak at the Decatur Book Festival #writingtips Click To Tweet During the talk he shared an example of something that happened to him early in his career. A big publisher offered to pick up his book but asked him to rewrite the story from the […]
Head Hopping in Fiction
I just read a very good police procedural at the request of the author. He asked me to review his book. The book was quite well done except for the occasional head-hopping. The author wrote the book in the third person point of view from the standpoint of the lead policeman. That is the usual […]
Let’s Talk Book Festivals and Book Signings
Readers love to meet the authors who write the books they love. Even though so much of what we do is online, there is still a draw for going to book festivals and book signings. I head Michael Connelly talk at the Decatur Book Festival a couple of years ago. What a delight to hear […]
Books vs e-Books?
As the way we read books changes, I wonder what people like about reading books versus e-books. To me, what is most interesting is we are asking this question. Just a few years ago, no one read e-books. I remember when Amazon came out with the Kindle. Everyone thought the company had lost its mind. […]
Tips to Novel Writers Who Write Short Stories
Last January I agreed to participate on a short story blog. I along with several novel writers are writing a story a month around certain themes. The blog is Lightning Quick Reads. It’s been great fun, but also a challenge. As novel writers, we often find telling our stories in 1500 words or less difficult. […]
Tips for Finding Your Genre
Every writer hears from publishers and agents to write in a genre. If your book is too general, too broad, it is harder to market #marketing #writing Click To Tweet They tell us, “Book sellers like to know where to place your book on their shelves.” Okay that sounds fine, but what about sub-genres? And […]
E.L. Doctorow Tips to Other Writers
The great writer E.L. Doctorow died recently. He was one of America’s great fiction writers. Recently I heard an interview with him that was recorded in 2009 after he published Homer and Langley. In that interview he shared some tips with writers that I thought worth repeating. “I don’t write with an outline.” #writingtips Click […]
Harper Lee–Go Set a Watchman, My Opinion
The hype before Harper Lee’s new old book was released surprised most people in the literary world. When was there so much anticipation before the release of a book. Probably not since the releases of the in the Girl With the Dragoon Tattoo series. What brought all the talk? First, a best-selling, brilliant author who […]
Creating Confidence: How to Love Your Writing in 3 Steps
Guest Post by Miranda Kulig When I was six years old, my teacher asked each person in my class what they wanted to be when they grew up. Some kids wanted to be doctors. Some wanted to be teachers. Other kids said they didn’t know. I, however, knew exactly what I was going to be when I […]
#YouKnowYouAreAWriterWhen
Recently I’ve been tweeting with the hashtag #YouKnowYouAreAWriterWhen. It’s been fun thinking about how do we know we’re writers. Or, the better question: when does it hit us we are writers? Is it when we’ve published something? Is it when we spend most of our time writing? For me, I began thinking I might be […]
