Help me choose my new author photo
I recently had new photos taken. This is always stressful for me, which is one of the reasons I was a photographer once upon a time. I far prefer being behind the camera than before it. But books need photos, and I have a compulsion to keep them current. That said, it isn’t a simple…
Read MoreAre those rave book reviews legit?
I’m referring to “reader reviews” at online bookstores, and I’ve always been a little envious, to tell the truth. I don’t get many reader reviews of my books – at least, not as many as some of my competition get. I always figured it was because I didn’t solicit them. I mean, I prize your…
Read MoreKnitting vs. beading
If you regularly read this blog, you know I love knitting and crocheting. I’ve also done weaving, macrame, and gimp-ing, and I sewed my wedding dress myself, which says I’m an all-around crafts person, right? Well, maybe. Or not. Last Friday, I went looking for a tube bar clasp for a cuff (bracelet) that I…
Read MoreWorking through the books in my beach bag
Actually, it’s not a beach bag, simply what would be in a hypothetical beach bag if I was to read at the beach as opposed to the lake, where comfortable, non-sandy, tree-shaded chairs abound. I had read Home, by Toni Morrison, the weekend before, but last weekend was for Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. And mind…
Read MoreSUMMERLAND: a recommendation
When I asked you Facebook fans for book recommendations, Summerland was mentioned several times. So I read it, loved it, recommend it. Here’s why. Sense of place. The setting is Nantucket, where the author, Elin Hilderbrand, has lived since 1984, and she knows the island well. From the very first page, you’ll see it, smell…
Read MoreMy summer reading list
I ask you what you’re reading many a Tuesday in the SPEEDY BD SURVEY, and you have every right to ask me back. The answer? I can’t read much when I’m working on a book, but now that Sweet Salt Air is done and summer here, my to-read pile is growing. At the top is…
Read MoreI believe! I believe!
I’m a fiction person, which isn’t to say I don’t read the newspaper or watch the evening news, but simply that my entertainment of choice involves pretend. Add to that magical elements that sometimes creep into my own work, like the coyotes in Escape, the wishes in Three Wishes, and the herbs in Sweet Salt…
Read MoreWhat comes after THE END?
I’ve been absent. At the end of writing a book, when my creative energy is focused on climactic scenes and tying up loose ends, it’s hard to think about writing anything else. So my blog takes a hit. I apologize. But Sweet Salt Air is now done – at least, the heavy-duty, mind-drain part of…
Read MoreTHE HUNGER GAMES: a recommendation
I read a lot of popular fiction. As a writer, I need to know something about books that are extraordinarily successful – i.e., what it is about them that makes millions of readers clamor to buy. It was on that premise that I read “Twilight,” and loved it enough to read all four books more…
Read MoreDo you talk to yourself?
Do you? I mean, out loud? I didn’t used to. Only deranged people talk aloud to themselves, right? But there are certain circumstances now when I find myself doing it. Like when I carry two super-heavy bags of groceries in from the car and heave them onto the kitchen counter. Okay, I grunt in relief…
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