Posts Tagged ‘how to write’
Page Change
Whoa. I just looked at my last blog, and realized how long I’ve been gone! Well, not really gone. I’ve been here at my desk the whole time, plugging away at my new book. But now we’re into October, and sweet corn is passé in New England. What’s in? Apples and cranberries (the picture below…
Read MoreI hear you!
The notes you send have a huge impact on me. The most obvious instance occurred in June, soon after Sweet Salt Air came out. One reader said she thought the book started too slowly. I promptly turned to my work-in-progress, reread the opening with a critical eye, then switched Chapters 1 and 2 so that…
Read MoreBut do you like my book?
And so comes the Monday after the first weekend you’ve all have with my newest book. I sit on tenterhooks wondering, worrying, hoping. Sweet Salt Air has actually been out and around for the sake of getting early reviews. Part of the promotional campaign leading up to its publication entailed sending Advance Reading Copies to…
Read MoreOn sale now! What do I feel?
For starters, I feel like it’s about time! I finished writing Sweet Salt Air a year ago, and though my publisher needed these months to publish the book well – and they have! – I feel like you all have waited forever. On one hand, I want you hungry, so that you’ll race out and…
Read MoreSnapshots of SWEET SALT AIR
Last week’s blog talked about which character in this book is my favorite, but I have other favorites here. Since Sweet Salt Air is a highly sensual book, I’m thinking see, smell, feel, hear, and taste. I’m calling them snapshots, because they’re just quick little moments from the book. I guess that makes this blog…
Read MoreAre you imaginative?
I get ideas from what I read in the news. Here’s a perfect example. I logged on this morning to catch the headlines at cnn.com and saw this one, “How ‘GOT’ will end,” and immediately clicked through. GOT is Game of Thrones, and I’m addicted to it. This Sunday is the Season 3 finale, but…
Read MoreMy favorite character in SWEET SALT AIR
Do I play favorites when it comes to my characters? That depends on how you define playing favorites. For starters, I couldn’t spend a year writing a book about people I didn’t like. That said, if each of them is totally loveable, the book is boring. Also, I like to see growth in my characters, which…
Read MoreWhere SWEET SALT AIR came from
Most of my books are inspired by things I read about in the newspaper. The inspiration for Sweet Salt Air was much more personal. I have three sons, all of whom have recently had children, and when each of those babies was born, its umbilical cord blood was harvested, frozen, and stored. The premise is…
Read MoreNaming the characters in my next book
You’ve heard of Dennis Lehane, right? Since he’s a home town boy, my local press is all over him. So I wasn’t surprised to hear tv reports that his dog, Tessa (yup, that’s her pictured above), had disappeared on Christmas Eve and that he was offering to name a character in his next book after…
Read MoreDealing with the loss of my characters
Readers feel this. You’ve been engrossed in a book for however long it takes to read it and then, suddenly, the characters are gone. You write me asking what they’ll do now and whether they’ll ever be back. But if you miss them, think of what I’m feeling when I finish writing a book. Take Sweet…
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