This is the second book in The Hunger Games Trilogy. I had read The Hunger Games a year or two ago, before the movie came out. And I liked it. But the back cover copy for the second book convinced me that I wouldn’t like it. Marketers (I assume it was the marketers) targeted the … More Review: “Catching Fire” by Suzanne Collins
As somebody who has written a lot, and continues to write a lot, the most comfortable place for me to be is in front of a keyboard. The least comfortable? On the receiving end of reviews. Well, I guess I should qualify that. Writers will always get good and bad reviews; that’s the nature of … More An Author’s Best Friend
I’m my own worst enemy. It’s been a busy few days, with the whole family traveling up to Oklahoma for a reunion. Now it’s just Gavin, my grandson, our three dogs and me. Shelly and my kids drove off to Jefferson to get my daughter moved into a new house. Those of us who stayed … More Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
In the past 18 months since I started my indie author enterprise, I have experimented with lots of ways to get readers’ attention. After all the contests and advertising and promotions, I have come to the conclusion that the bottom line for selling books online is in reviews. How does one get reviews? You get … More My 99 Cent Sale
I have a new theory when it comes to book publishing. Well, it’s actually not that new. I’ve been thinking about it for the past year. At 18 months in the indie book business, I am still an adolescent when it comes to publishing. I continue to read advice from other indie authors. Some of … More Critical Mass
There are millions of wanna-be published authors out there. Some of them–a lot of them, actually–actually end up writing some semblance of a book manuscript. And once it is written, there are quite a few that think this: It is the greatest thing that has ever been written. All I have to do it get … More Is Your Writing Starbucks, 7-Eleven or Home Brew?
I confess. Every once in a time I find myself guilty of doing the same things I tell my students not to do. Like fretting over things you have no control over. You know the feeling: you work your butt off to get your manuscript finished, send it off in the mail to some potential … More Watching Paint Dry
The Twelve by Justin Cronin. Ballentine Books, New York, 2012. It may seem odd to some for me to be reviewing this book a day after I reviewed the devotional Hearing God by Dallas Willard. After all, if you are familiar with the first book in this series, The Passage, you might have the idea … More Review: The Twelve by Justin Cronin
First, the good news. I am about 8,200 words from completing my National Novel Writing Month challenge of 50,000 words in 30 days. Actually I am at approximately 41,800 words. I say approximately, because every time I have done this, the official counter at NaNoWriMo Central has short changed me by several hundred words. November … More Five Days and 8,200 Words
The Great Adventure 