For years now experienced authors have been telling new writers that reading is important, especially in the genre they would like to write in. Read a lot, they say. Unfortunately, they don’t tell you what they really mean . . . the secret. I read a lot and by some…
Happy New Year and welcome to 2017! Like many of you, I have plans for this year, among them the publication of my first fiction books. This January 1st marks 18 months since I first embarked on this path and I can start to see the light. Book 1, Future…
Would you believe that The Grapes of Wrath was an influence on the writing of The Martian Chronicles? Well, it’s true. When asked what author most influenced him, Ray Bradbury said Steinbeck. More specifically, Bradbury noted that he used The Grapes of Wrath as a model for The Martian Chronicles.…
A few days ago, I was pressing to complete a re-write of Search for the Host, the third in the Host series. I was actually doing pretty well. I was down to only 19 areas for corrections in the book which I had noted over two re-reads and re-writes. I…
We all need writing help. In my last writing retreat, Deb Cavanaugh mentioned something that I didn’t know (not the first time). She said that Harper Lee was essentially not alone in writing To Kill a Mockingbird. Based on my own experience, I can believe it. Lee did write the…
Always give them what they want to hear. An old rule of thumb, and one that applies to a blog as well. So far, I have been writing the blog about my experiences as I go through the writing process, but now I think I need to do more. The…
Oh boy, schedule delay again. I dragged my feet and now my proofreading won’t start until the first week in January. I wanted it to be in December, but I waited too long to schedule. My fault. I have the copy edits back for Books 1 and 2 but I’m…
I recently received an email inviting me to attend an on-line writing seminar with the above New Year’s heading. It’s a good question though I suspect it’s eclipsed by “I’m going to lose weight”, “I’m going to finish my degree”, “I’ll get a better job” and so forth. On the…
Ok. I reached a new milestone today! Books 1 and 2 have just been sent to the copy editor. . . finally! I’m sure they could be better, but sometimes in writing you get to the point of diminishing returns, when your head just won’t work anymore. Each time I do…
Editing continues. After writing my note on my US Naval Academy Classmates, I realized I haven’t talked much about what I’m doing now as far as writing is concerned. I have gone fishing a few times, but I’ll save that for later. About two weeks ago I finished making the…
