There is a lot of criticism these days about biased book reviews and writers reviewing each others books in order to post glowing reviews. I write reviews for Suspense Magazine, and I also occasionally read a book by a fellow writer and post the review on Amazon and GoodReads. I never write a negative review.Continue reading “Writing Honest Book Reviews”
Category Archives: authors
Time to Write; What to Write
If you haven’t got an idea, start a story anyway. You can always throw it away, and maybe by the time you get to the fourth page you will have an idea, and you’ll only have to throw away the first three pages.- William Campbell Gault There have been probably thousands of blog posts, articles and evenContinue reading “Time to Write; What to Write”
Where Do I Set My Story?
“There is no happiness in love, except at the endof an English novel.” (Anthony Trollope in Barchester Towers) The passage through Dover Castle at the right just can’t help sparking my imagination. How Does an Author Choose a Setting Why did I set The Gate House in England? The simple answer to that question isContinue reading “Where Do I Set My Story?”
Being an Editor
Besides writing, I do a fair amount of editing and have found that I enjoy it almost as much as I do writing. There is something about clarifying a piece of writing, while still retaining the writer’s voice and intent, that is enormously satisfying. I know from experience that a writer can read over aContinue reading “Being an Editor”
Where do characters come from?
My characters are frequently based on real people, but as the story develops, they take on a life of their own and bear little more than a superficial resemblance to the person on whom it is based. In the case of Nara, the main character in The Gate House, she is based on the daughter-in-lawContinue reading “Where do characters come from?”
Back to Lincolnshire
Since my novel The Gate House is due out in May, I am thinking about the trip to England that inspired the novel. My husband and I stayed in a bed in breakfast in the market town of Spalding in Lincolnshire. We traveled to that part of England because his ancestors had come from theirContinue reading “Back to Lincolnshire”
Journal Writing Tuesday
Who writes letters anymore? A quick email, a text or a phone call is more the way to go these days. There are two things going on in my life right now that have caused me to think about the slower pace of life in years that have passed not so long ago. The firstContinue reading “Journal Writing Tuesday”
Friday Book Review – Guilt by Association by Marcia Clark
In Marcia Clark’s first attempt at fiction, she has produced a well-crafted legal mystery set in the Los Angeles district attorney’s office, a setting Ms. Clark knows well. Protagonist Rachel Knight must deal with her assigned cases as a member of the DA’s Special Trials Unit, which handles high profile cases, as well as theContinue reading “Friday Book Review – Guilt by Association by Marcia Clark”
Missing Book Stores
Yesterday I drove twenty minutes to a “major book store.” There is one that is closer, in the same major chain, but it doesn’t have a coffee shop and is quite small. I made the trek yesterday because I love buying colorful calendars after the first of the year when they go on sale forContinue reading “Missing Book Stores”
Have you thanked an author today?
Some people read a few books a year, some about one a month, and some, like me, devour books like they are daily nourishment, which they often are.If you are a writer, you know the time, effort and sacrifice it takes to get the book in front of the reader, just like the effort ofContinue reading “Have you thanked an author today?”