It’s Three Treats In One!

Today is Halloween and we all know what that means: little ghosts and goblins gorging on sugar and bouncing around the house ’til the wee hours. Or, at my house, it means . . . absolutely nothing. We don’t get any trick-or-treaters so we don’t hand out candy, which is fine since candy is so expensive this year, and there’s no need for us to get decked out in some wacky costume because nobody arrives at the door to see us. So, I’m going to address the less obvious and more exciting three-event special day happening tomorrow.

Read Full Post »

A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That

Summer is winding down in a lot of places and folks are gearing up for Fall. Pumpkins, Halloween decorations and even some Christmas décor is popping up all around. It’s still way too hot for me to think about Fall sweaters and hot spiced beverages but the folks in retail don’t really pay attention to the weather.

Read Full Post »

Get Out Of Your Head

Photo by P. Rickrode

The writers police academy was quite the adventure. Lots of hands-on stuff. Lots of great insider information. Lots of really nice people. Not so much sleep. But it was all worth it. The workshops were great, the food was good, the hotel was adequate, the location was perfect, the guest speakers were fabulous. One in particular touched me with his keynote address on Saturday night.

Read Full Post »

Because I Really Like It There

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about my books or writing in general. Since I am a published author, I guess I should probably talk about my books on occasion, right? Today is that day. I thought I’d share with you some of my ideas and how my creative process works when I’m writing.

Read Full Post »

The Power of One Little Click

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Writing is hard. Anyone who’s tried it will attest to this. Putting the exact words on a page in the exact order they are meant to be in and incorporating the appropriate punctuation without changing tense or point of view may seem easy. But . . .  it’s not. With practice it gets easier. Sometimes. I hope anyway. I’m going to keep doing it so I guess I’ll find out.

Read Full Post »

“Alright, I’ll go in there for Dorothy.”

“Alright, I’ll go in there for Dorothy. Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch. Guards or no guards, I’ll tear ’em apart. There’s just one thing I want you guys to do…talk me out of it.”

We’re all familiar with the sweet cowardly lion from the movie, “The Wizard of Oz.” I mean who didn’t smile when he raised his big fluffy paws and said, “Put ’em up, put ’em up?” Or when he said, “I do believe in spooks! I do believe in spooks! I do, I do, I do, I do!” and yet he soldiered on with the rest of his oddball gang. How could you not love his devotion to Dorothy? And didn’t you just melt at the end of the movie when he said, “I never would have found my courage if it hadn’t been for you?”

Read Full Post »

In With the New

So I’ve been spending a LOT of time lately learning how to market my book. For those of you who are not writers, let me just say that when you write “the end,” you’re only about a third of the way done with that story. Next comes rounds of editing and proofreading to get it exactly right and then comes the selling part. This is the hardest, yet most important part. After all, what good is a really good book with an amazing cover if nobody knows how to get their hands on it?

Read Full Post »

Men Are Like Cats

I’ve had a hard couple of weeks. Some of you know, my super sweet, almost 15-year-old Labrador Retriever, Sherlock, had to be put to rest on the 11th of October. It was one of the hardest days of my life. I’ve never had to make THAT decision before. Here’s a picture of him in his glory days.

Sherlock and miniature Thor. Photo by P. Rickrode.

Read Full Post »

Why Would I Do That?

I know a lot of folks like to read. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say, there are a lot of folks who LOVE to read. I’m one of those folks. Most writers probably are. Everyone has their favorite authors, books, series, genres, etc. Me? I like to read lots of stuff. The only things I don’t read are science fiction, horror, and books that “preach” at me about anything.

Read Full Post »

The First Impression

About a month ago I blogged about the importance of a good title, in relation to articles and books. A lot of that post was poking fun at embarrassing headlines from newspapers, but the point got made – how something is titled is important. Because I’m on the brink of publishing my first novel, I’m at the point where I need to start making some very important decisions about not only titles, but the items that will make or break someone’s decision to buy my book. The items that create a good first impression. The things that will make my book stand out from the rest on an already crowded shelf.

Read Full Post »