All Blog Posts Tagged 'authors' (181)

Why Do We Keep Reading?

A discussion on a mystery chat group recently dealt with why we keep reading authors who long ago ran out of things to say to us. Either their work has grown stale or we ourselves have read enough of it to know exactly what's coming, yet we keep buying them, reading them, waiting for them to do it again.

I suppose it's habit, in part. It's also a desire to recapture that feeling of joy you once had, like going to your high school reunion and expecting to meet the cool dudes and… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on May 5, 2009 at 11:07pm — 2 Comments

Darden North, author of medical thrillers, is featured on Mysterious People

Mysterious People --- Interviews with mystery/suspense/thriller/crime authors as well as articles written by them ---

Sunday, April 19, 2009 ...

A Conversation with Darden North, MD, author of FRESH FROZEN

Hosted by author Jean Henry Mead

Darden North, a practicing obstetrician, is a graduate of Ole Miss and writes award-winning medical thrillers from John Grisham territory.…

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Added by Darden North, MD on April 21, 2009 at 1:23pm — No Comments

Teachers Among Us

I spoke to a group of teachers yesterday with the idea of motivating them. (Now there's a tough sell on a Wednesday afternoon in March!)

It got me thinking, however, about teaching and learning among writers. Many of us are former educators, which doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is how well authors teach what they know to others, whether they are former educators or not. We love revealing how we achieve our "formula." If we were scientists, we'd be locking it up in a safe… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on March 26, 2009 at 9:03pm — 3 Comments

Thick Skin and Rock-hard Confidence: Survival Tips from a Teflon Novelist - by Darden North, M.D.

This article appears in the Author Exchange Blog hosted by Linda M. Faulkner - March 17, 2009

Author Exchange Blog:Reviews with published authors, along with their articles, advice, and writing tips...

Thick Skin and Rock-hard Confidence: Survival Tips from a Teflon Novelist - by Darden North, M.D.

When I first decided to write a novel, my children were… Continue

Added by Darden North, MD on March 18, 2009 at 3:38pm — No Comments

Wednesday's Question: When Setting Is a Character

I'm reading Nevada Barr's A SUPERIOR DEATH, and being a native Michigander, enjoying the way she brings Lake Superior into the story and makes it one of the cast. How about some other mysteries where the setting is essential to the solution and excellently drawn? (I know, it's almost too easy!)

Added by Peg Herring on February 11, 2009 at 9:44pm — 6 Comments

Technology Versus Me & You

I love my magic techno-box...most of the time. It does what I do very well, until this morning, when it informed me upon startup that its Spooler SubSystem Application has a problem. It may as well have spoken to me in Farsi.

You don't care what's wrong with my computer. Actually I really don't, either. I will take it to a very nice young man and he will make it better, end of story. My thought today is on the dependence I've developed with technology and the fact that authors are… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on January 29, 2009 at 10:19pm — 2 Comments

Guest Blog #4-P.J.'s Lament

Today my guest blogger, reader/reviewer/judge P.J. Coldren, has some complaints. Constructive ones, of course, so listen up, authors!

For my last guest blog, I'm going to do something I don't normally do. I'm gonna gripe. I've been reading mysteries for a bloody long time, and there are some things that really irritate the crap outa me.

I know that as readers we don't want to be bored with the minutia of daily life. In fact, that's one thing that annoys me - the long… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on January 28, 2009 at 10:00pm — 2 Comments

I Could Write a Book

I used to hang out in my grandmother's kitchen a lot, possibly because she was usually baking. I was a loquacious child, and often explained to her, in great detail I now realize, what I wanted Life to do differently. Her response was often a terse admonition, "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride."

I didn't get it then, but I do now. Grandma was a practical Scotswoman who knew that you can't just want.

As I present workshops these days for aspiring writers, I see lots of… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on January 26, 2009 at 10:36pm — No Comments

P.J.'s Guest Blog #3 Favorite Books

When people find out that I review mysteries, and that I read manuscripts, they almost always ask me a question I really dread, "Who is your favorite mystery writer?" The easy answer is, of course, that I don't have a favorite. There are too many good writers to pick just one. The reply when I'm with people who read mysteries with as much fervor as I do is more complex. It turns into a series of new questions: Male or Female, Living or Dead, Cozy or Hard-boiled, P.I. or Police Procedural,… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on January 21, 2009 at 10:45pm — 1 Comment

New acceptance!

After a long and trying journey, I finished A Will to Love and submitted it.

My editor just responded with kudoes on the writing and a shiny new contract! I am so thrilled!!!

Hope all my mystery fans will enjoy my first ROMANCE! It is a short novella or long short story, however you want to look at it.

More info coming~!
xxoox

Added by Kim Smith on January 20, 2009 at 4:21am — No Comments

Go Ask Alice, I Think She'll Know

Do you ever feel like you're in Wonderland, with the White Rabbit pulling you along and urging you to hurry, even though you're not sure where you're going or why? That's publishing.

There's always something looming that might be done, should be done, must be done. There's always a deadline. Yet it's hard to say whether it makes any difference if you get it all done and on time. No one knows for sure what works.

Keep up your website and blog on all the sites you can… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on January 19, 2009 at 10:39pm — No Comments

Why?

I heard a story once about a philosophy professor whose final exam consisted of just one word: WHY? The only student who received an "A" on the exam responded with two words: WHY NOT?

Why do you write? Why do I? The usual reasons people choose a path in life boil down to a few basics: we like it, we think we're good at it, we like what we get from it. I became a teacher because I like sharing what I know with others, it was evident that others liked the way I operated in the… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on January 15, 2009 at 10:27pm — No Comments

New Publishing Company

Melanie D. Calvert-Benton and Gary L. Benton have announced the future

opening of Dancing Fox Publishing. Dancing Fox Publishing of Jackson,

Mississippi, will strive for excellence in the publishing field.

Gary a professional web designer is designing a web site and we should be

online within a couple of weeks. We will consider any writing genre, except

porn, or manuscripts with

We have decided to make our services free of any… Continue

Added by Melanie C. Benton on January 10, 2009 at 1:57am — No Comments

About That Plot

I'm judging a contest myself, and I took advice from P.J. Coldren's comments here yesterday as a starting point. Having read two entries, my mind centered this morning on plot.

If I had to choose the most important element for me, it would be plot. I appreciate beautifully written prose and lovingly rendered characters, but if there's no plot or a bad plot, who cares? I suppose for literary fiction we can allow the character study novel or the moment-in-time study, but a steady diet… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on January 8, 2009 at 11:01pm — No Comments

Networking Outside of Civilization

Northern Michigan is beautiful, peaceful, and wonderful. However, if you're looking to run into an agent, an editor, or a publisher you can chat up and pitch to, forget it. In the dearth of publishing contacts withing 200 miles, I've learned to appreciate the people I meet who have some idea of what writing is all about.

Readers-The people who love bookstores, love reading, love meeting a "real" author.

Wannabe Writers-They might be found anywhere, like the woman at Home… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on January 2, 2009 at 9:54pm — No Comments

It's Been a While--and, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's been a while since I've added a Blog Post--last year, no less, and I'm not sure that I have a lot to say. This last year came apart for almost everyone near its end, and it looks like 2009 is going to be one of metered optimism, more of a year for waiting than a year for action. Good news--everything went on SALE! Bad news--no one has any money. I'm betting that 2009 is going to be more of those seesaw sort of swings and nothing can be taken for granted for a while.

Last year… Continue

Added by Mari Sloan on January 2, 2009 at 4:30am — No Comments

CONVERSATIONS LIVE! RADIO Interviews Darden North

Please copy and past the link below to listen to the December 2008 interview by Cyrus Webb:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/conversationslive/2008/12/12/author-darden-north-talks-to-conversations-live

Added by Darden North, MD on December 17, 2008 at 11:30am — 3 Comments

Re-reading

In Steinbeck's THE RED PONY, there's a grandfather who tells the same stories over and over. When it's pointed out to him, quite rudely, he says something like, "I don't know why I do it; I only know how I want people to feel when I do." Revisiting stories is about how they make us feel.

I seldom read books a second or third time, but I know people who do. Why? They know what to expect and how it will make them feel. When life is unpredictable or too tragically predictable, books… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on December 11, 2008 at 10:11pm — No Comments

Remember Ruth Buzzi?

The first time I saw her was in a skit where she was a magician's assistant, with a name something like Shegundalah. The first thing you noticed was her large chin, and of course she emphasized it for the sake of humor. Ruth made quite a career out of that chin, but I read once that she had to resist all kinds of pressure to "do something" about it. "They" said she would never make it in show business otherwise.

Sara Paretsky was told early on that she'd made two really disastrous… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on December 9, 2008 at 9:54pm — No Comments

Marketing Blog for Authors

For years, I've been doling out free advice to authors on marketing, PR and promotions. Now, I've taken my knowledge to the blogosphere.

AskAngelaWilson.com is a place where authors can ask questions - and get answers. There are columns on creating marketing plans, virtual tours and more.

Check out the site. Visit www.askangelawilson.com. Support the site via the PayPal Tip Jar, or by… Continue

Added by Angela Wilson on December 1, 2008 at 2:12am — No Comments