File This Under: Are You Kidding Me

I heard about a little Twitter dust-up from Nathan Bransford’s blog: One of the Fastest Paths to Rejection: Implying You Don’t Read Much. There isn’t much that I can add other than, Are you kidding me? I know the urge on Twitter is to rev up those couple of hundred characters and voice an opinion,……

A Little Sh*t Can’t Hurt

As a librarian I can tell you many people will religiously read the same authors’ books. We see this constantly as the request list for the latest Patterson or Steele novels head into the hundreds. As a reader myself I’ve read a familiar author’s book that once I was done said, “that was a waste……

What Indie Authors Do Well

This is an older post that I’ve been meaning to get back to. I can’t think of much to add to it, however. It is pretty self explanatory. One thing I struggle with and it is something I think we do to ourselves is perpetuate the label of Indie Author. When you do a search……

What’s in a Name.

First, I must thank fellow author and friend Gale Leach for sharing this on the message board of the West Valley Writer’s Workshop. I learned a long time ago that a manuscript rejection means four things, the agent / editor didn’t really read it and just tossed a form letter your way, the story doesn’t……

5 Key Lessons – Neil Gaiman

Author Neil Gaiman recently provided the keynote for the Digital Minds Conference in an article in on Forbes.com the author distills 5 key lessons from the talk. While intended for an audience of book publishers, these points are ones authors, especially self published ones, should be aware of. You can read the whole article here. http://www.forbes.com/sites/suwcharmananderson/2013/04/22/5-key-lessons-for-authors-and-self-publishers-from-neil-gaiman/

Uncovered Interview with H.P. Lovecraft

I suppose it would come of little surprise to find out that I am a huge fan of the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. I discovered his work in a book of horror stories that belonged to my cousin one fortunate night in December. Since then I have read everything I could get my hands on amassing a small collection……

Great Time at the Avondale Writers’ Conference

This past weekend I took part in the 3rd Avondale Writers’ Conference. I had the privilege of attending as both speaker and attendee. The air had a definite buzz. It was great to see so many talented people, so passionate about their craft. The sessions were all well attended. For my session, I had some 25 attendees and……

Avondale Writers’ Conference

I wanted to share a write-up about the Avondale Writers’ Conference from Examiner.com. I will be giving a talk on using Point of View to enhance your writing. I am looking forward to attending some of the other workshops and mingling with the writers. I even snatched up a chunk of time with an agent to pitch my Steampunk……

It’s a Marathon Not A Sprint

Who am I kidding? That bit of news from my title is older than the hills themselves. Still every once in a while it is necessary to hear the obvious from fellow authors. While we all have visions of our books igniting the next big literary trend the reality of it happening is just below……

How a 91-year-old Author’s Debut Mystery Hit the Bestseller List

I think this post from Anne R. Allen’s blog is a great picker-upper for any writer wondering when the success will come. I know I had visions of being the next hot young twenty something best seller back in the good ole’ days. http://annerallen.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-91-year-old-authors-debut-mystery.html