BLUNT TALK ABOUT SUPERCELL
I wasn’t aware of it until my publisher, BelleBooks, pointed it out, but May 4th is National Weather Observers Day. And maybe BelleBooks wasn’t aware of it until I mentioned it, but the month of May marks the climatological peak of tornado season (see graphic below). On average, more twisters rip across the U. S.…
Read MoreB-24s AND LUFTWAFFE PILOTS
It’s been awhile since I’ve written a blog, mainly because I feel the the media universe has become super-saturated with them. Same thing with author newsletters and books in general. So I’ll understand if only a few people ever read this. But I thought I’d blather briefly about what I’ve begun working on while novel…
Read MoreBUZZ BERNARD IS A TERRIBLE WRITER
The first time I received a negative review of one of my novels I felt as if I’d been gut-punched. I tiny wave of nausea surged through me. That was over six years and five novels ago. Since then, I’ve learned to roll with the punches. Thumbs-down evaluations of my works, I’ve come to understand,…
Read MoreBIG WORDS VS. LITTLE ONES
One of the beta-readers for my forthcoming novel, FIREWIND, took me to task (which is what I expect beta-readers to do) for using several “big” or “obscure” words when more common words would have sufficed. He pointed out, correctly, that readers get annoyed if they have to constantly refer to a dictionary. In truth, novelists are…
Read MoreHIRING A PUBLICIST–A GOOD OR BAD IDEA?
Here’s a link to a guest blog I wrote for Southern Writers Magazine discussing the pros and cons of hiring a book publicist.
Read MorePRESUMPTUOUS?
As I touted the Southeastern Writers Association annual workshop (June 16-20 on St. Simons Island, Georgia) to a fellow writer recently, he interrupted me by saying he thought it “presumptuous” to assume that a professional author could “teach” writing to someone. That took me aback, but in way, I suppose he was correct. I’ve listened…
Read MoreI JUST KNEW SOMETHING BAD WAS GOING ON IN THERE
It’s kinda cool when someone remembers specific scenes from the books you’ve written . . . even if that someone is your brother. My brother Rick and I were chatting a few weeks ago about novels and movies, and he brought up a particular scene he remembered from Plague. “That building with no windows,” he…
Read MoreCOULDA BEEN WORSE
As disruptive as Hurricane Matthew was for St. Simons Island, Georgia, my favorite spot on the Atlantic Coast, it was not a worst-case, Eyewall-type scenario. Matthew, most importantly (and obviously) was not a Category 5 monster. But there was also a bit of luck that factored into things not being worse: the hurricane jogged slightly…
Read MoreLIVING ON THE FAULT LINE
I believe there are two different ways Cascadia, my newest novel, is being read. It’s dependent, I think, upon where the readers live. When I do a presentation on Cascadia in the Southeast, where I reside, I’ve discovered I need to do a little extra. I have to set the stage for the drama, because most…
Read MoreAN INDIAN VILLAGE, A BOOKSTORE, AND A SCENE FROM CASCADIA
The opening scene in my newest novel, Cascadia, is set in a Clatsop Indian village on the Pacific Northwest coast over three hundred years ago. Based on research, I placed the village on the present site of Seaside, Oregon. I’m not entirely certain there was an Indian village there in 1700, the date of the…
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