It’s been so long since I’ve logged into my site that I had to ping my web guy because I forgot my username and PW. Turns out, I didn’t forget; he had to do some major updates back in June and reset everything. He’s provided me with a clever, naughty password (NO, I’M NOT TELLING) […]
Here’s the current soundtrack for my latest work-in-progress. It’s evolved from the one I posted back in 2013. Same book, though. Say Something – A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera Mirrors – Justin Timberlake Demons – Imagine Dragons Night Swimming – REM Come Back When You Can – Barcelona (specifically this YouTube mash-up of Weeds) Sinners – Lauren […]
If you love writing and reading short fiction, then be sure to check out Mash Stories, which is one of the hottest sites out there (it recently received a Webby Award). Mash Stories holds a flash fiction writing competition every quarter. What makes Mash different from so many other writing competitions is that there’s NO […]
I visited a book club in Uxbridge, Mass., last night and we discussed all things related to What Happened in Granite Creek. They had fabulous questions and plenty of insightful comments. It’s always fun to get in the trenches with readers and hear what they have to say about the books they read. A question I’m […]
When I read Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge a few years ago, I was floored. And wowed. And gobsmacked. It had been a long while since a book had such a HUGE impression on me, one that has lingered to this day. I read the book only once, but kept telling myself to go back to […]
Shout out to all the folks participating in National Novel Writing Month this month, more affectionately known as NaNoWriMo. The goal? Write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. I did NaNo back in 2004. Got the T-shirt to prove it, which I still wear proudly (it always garners many curious stares at the local Stop […]
Last summer, I ditched 60,000 words from my work-in-progress and started over from scratch. I finished the manuscript this past February. We’re talking a completed, polished, I-thought-it-was-ready manuscript. I was wrong. Two things happened: I gave the book to nine beta readers. Got feedback from four. Crickets from the rest. The feedback I got was […]
The fine folks at Goodreads launched a new feature a few weeks ago: questions for authors. For those authors who’ve enabled the feature, readers can ask them questions. And yep, I’ve enabled it. Here are the questions I’ve answered so far, including direct links to my answers. Where did you get the idea for your […]
According to everyone’s favorite big brother—Google—an average of 20 people every month search on this phrase: I have an idea for a book. (Perhaps you landed on this blog post for that very reason.) After you conduct a search like that, Google will spit up many pages with recommendations, suggestions, and directives on What To […]
I want to inconvenience my readers. I want to make them wonder, Shit, did I feed the cat? Did I feed the kids? I want their laundry and dishes to pile high, flies flitting overhead. I want them to lose sleep, wages, their sanity, their knowledge of themselves and the world, because they’re so goddamned […]