Blog
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Pitch It or Lose It – A Little Pressure Makes the Medicine Go Down
There is nothing like attending a writing conference and mixing it up with other writers. I was going to put up an article last night, but had some issues with the wifi connection. …And so wrote on Dragon Land instead. This, my friends, is a good thing. Anyone who has written a series knows the…
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Kicking the Cans – Part 2
About four months ago, I wrote a post requiring a lot of humility and courage, because if my kids ever read it, they will know I chewed tobacco for years and years. Perhaps I was being a good parent by not allowing them to see the huge mistake I made and kept making. Either way,…
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The Talisman (by Stephen King and Peter Straub): Insights of Book Architecture: Part 1
Like any good author in his mid-forties, I have read The Talisman. Being me, I’ve also listened to it. Two things drive me to write about this book, one of King’s best in my opinion. The first is that I am listening to the audio book again. Frank Muller is the narrator; his incredible performance…
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The Pale Horseman (by Bernard Cornwell): A Master Payoff
Image URL from Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pale-Horseman-Warrior-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B002RI91BW Welcome.This is my third blog post regarding The Pale Horseman (book two in the Saxon series by Bernard Cornwell). I began with observations on character and the complex protagonist that is Uhtred of Bebbanburg. In summary, I found that while I liked Uhtred from the first book, I was developing…
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It’s ARC Time: Book Architecture – How to Plot and Outline without Using a Formula
Some weeks are harder than others–full of bad news and unexpected expenses; you know, dropping your smart phone in a puddle during a rainstorm, learning that the vehicle you just paid off has a cracked radiator, power steering leak, and main oil leak. You work long hours and get nowhere.But as we all know, life…
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The Pale Horseman (by Bernard Cornwell): The Power of Jonathan Keeble
In the previous post, I discussed the characterization of Uhtred, Son of Uhtred, of Bebbanburg and his tendency to act rashly. Today, I want to switch it up a bit and discuss a topic near and dear to my heart–the audiobook version of The Pale Horseman as narrated by Jonathan Keeble.I listened to the sample…
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The Pale Horseman (by Bernard Cornwell): My thoughts on a complex protagonist named Uhtred
The Photo url is from Bernard Cornwell’s web site: http://www.bernardcornwell.net/books/the-pale-horseman-2/ The Pale Horseman (book two in the Saxon series by Bernard Cornwell) continues the bloody life chronicles of Uhtred of Bebbanburg. Why does this matter? Is this just another book review?Let me address the second question first. This is the start of a book review;…
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Where has my time gone?
This one goes out to my fellow writers. Do you have a magic trick to increase productivity? How about a daily goal? The most common goal, promulgated by Stephen King and his book, On Writing, is to craft a certain number of words each day. The master of horror reports to write 3,000 words every, single,…
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The KDP Select Question
On January 15th, 2015, J. A. Konrath and Mathew Yglesias (editor of Vox) participated in a debate with former New Republic editor Franklin Foer and Scott Turow in New York. The topic selected was “Amazon is the reader’s friend.” The full (very long) debate is on You Tube. I watched several short samples and then…
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The KDP Select Question
On January 15th, 2015, J. A. Konrath and Mathew Yglesias (editor of Vox) participated in a debate with former New Republic editor Franklin Foer and Scott Turow in New York. The topic selected was “Amazon is the reader’s friend.” The full (very long) debate is on You Tube. I watched several short samples and then…
