Lies, and How To Use Them One of the Ten Commandments is “thou shalt not lie,” but I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. Imagine me, or any guy, telling their wife— “Honey, you look terrible in that dress.” Not only will a comment like that cost you a smack in the face, it […]
An Indie Author’s Response to Sue Grafton I know I shouldn’t do this. I know it’s like responding to a bad review…but I couldn’t help myself. Sue Grafton pissed me off. Sue Grafton, bestselling mystery author, has been in the headlines recently, but not for her books. This time it’s for her mouth, or rather, […]
Sometimes You Have to Lie to Make Your Writing Believable My first book was published in April, and in late May I got emails from a few readers. Two of them said how much they loved the book, but they found it difficult to believe that six-year-old kids would have been smoking. Everything else they […]
Writing Erotica I have always tried to keep my posts “G-rated,” but with all the excitement over Fifty Shades of Grey and the landslide of books following it, I felt I had to do something drastic. Keep in mind, this character is not me. I swear. Temptation I was feeling a little down, and quite lazy […]
Anything Good Takes Time. I have read a lot of articles and advice from people about writing, and how writers should just write. Hurry up and write. Write. Write. Write. Somewhere in the article they mention, in passing, about making sure the quality is there, but the focus usually shifts back to writing fast so you can […]
Why My Characters Drink Coffee I had a few readers write to me and ask why my characters drink so much coffee. The first email I got, I brushed off. Maybe they’re not a coffee drinker, I thought. But then I got another, and yet one more. At that point I was forced to give […]
Creating Characters to Die For I wanted to dedicate this post to Stephenie Meyer, the wonder-woman mom who kicked off an unbelievable surge in young-adult reading. In the process she sold a gazillion copies of her books to teenagers and women all over the world. Some guys too (hand raised). A lot has been written […]
