Peg Herring's Blog – August 2010 Archive (6)

The Stuff of LIfe

I get irritated by them: those things I have to do when I would rather be writing. Yesterday it was shopping for home improvement items. In the north woods, where we live, buying large ticket items means a one-hour drive to a town that has stores in it. Yes, I get to eat at the Chinese restaurant (we don't have one of those, either), but it is a wasted day...well, except for the new refrigerator, freezer, bathroom remodeling stuff and five t-shirts I found on sale in a rainbow of… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on August 25, 2010 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Grouchy Reader Syndrome

Someone else named it, but it so fit me that I had to borrow it.

I've become a grouchy reader. Everything in a book has to work, or I'm angry at the author. Characters have to stay within their character, and there had better be at least one I can admire, maybe even like. I just finished one by an author who is admittedly great with words, but no one in the book was remotely admirable, so why should I care if they get involved in crime?

Plots have to work, and I can see it a mile away… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on August 24, 2010 at 12:30pm — No Comments

Why Can't We All Just...Read?

There's been an extended thread on one of my chat groups about whether or not we all should hate THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE. Some say it's infantile and just wrong. Some say it's great. A few (and I fall into this group although I never get involved in such debates) say, in effect, "Different strokes for different folks." Yeah, like that.

I have hated books that the Reading World lauds to the skies. I have loved books that get little or no notice from said World. Being a big… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on August 16, 2010 at 10:25pm — 1 Comment

"Buy My Book" - the Mistake

I've seen it many times, usually from authors new to the business but sometimes even from those more seasoned. We're set up next to each other at an author event and the person immediately launches into his/her spiel, at some point throwing in the fatal phrase, "You would love this book."

Or I set up a blog for authors to publicize their ebooks (Hmmm. Could that really happen?) Instructions say to submit certain information in a particular way, and I'll post it for the world to see. Instead… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on August 13, 2010 at 10:11pm — 4 Comments

Swept Up in a Bestseller

Everyone agrees that nobody knows what makes a bestseller. Books that were BLOCKBUSTERS often leave me asking, "On whose block?"

Those who know me can guess that I do not care about vampire boyfriends, Glenn Beck's rantings, or the people you meet in heaven. But even in my favorite genre, mystery, I'm puzzled by what others like that I find insipid or overdone or unbelievable. It may be Grouchy Reader Syndrome, which…

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Added by Peg Herring on August 4, 2010 at 9:40pm — 2 Comments