Blog
EL NINO AND EYEWALL
The Atlantic hurricane season is off to a stumbling start this year and doesn’t seem destined to become much better . . . or worse, depending on your viewpoint. So far, only three relatively flabby (but soggy) tropical storms have popped up, Ana, Bill, and Claudette. The Pacific basins, in contrast, have been spitting out…
Read MoreWHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU DIDN’T LIKE “GONE GIRL”?
It wasn’t that I didn’t like GONE GIRL. It was that GONE GIRL just never got going for me. I plowed through about 40 or 50 pages of the novel and raised the white flag. Not because the writing wasn’t good, quite the opposite. It was exquisite. Gillian Flynn can write circles around me and…
Read MoreA LOLLYGAGGER OF A HURRICANE SEASON?
The 2015 hurricane season forecasts are out (see Weather Channel graphic below) and the consensus is that activity in the Atlantic Basin (Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico) is going to be an underachiever. So, what’s that mean for you if you live along or plan on visiting the Atlantic or Gulf Coast this…
Read MoreSOUTHERN APPALACHIAN WOLVES
There are no wolves in the southern Appalachians. There probably haven’t been in over a century. They do, however, make a guest appearance in my most recent novel, Blizzard. In the book, I think I adequately explain their presence. What’s more interesting, perhaps, is how the animals made their way into the story in the…
Read MorePERPETUALLY AROUSED ZOMBIES?
I got an email recently from the VP of my publishing company, Belle Bridge Books, detailing the marketing challenges faced by smaller presses, like Belle Bridge, and relatively unknown authors, like myself. The VP, Deborah Smith (a New York Times best-selling author, BTW), harbors a great deal of wisdom and a laugh-out-loud sense of humor. Her comments…
Read MoreME AND STEVE BERRY
Steve Berry is an international, mega-best selling thriller novelist. According to his website, he’s sold 19 million books in 51 countries. Me? Another 18.9 million copies and I’ll be right there with him. I’ve met Steve several times, but let me make it clear, we aren’t necessarily BFF. If we were to meet again, he…
Read MoreGRABBING THE READER
I preach it all the time in my critique group, so I don’t know why I have such a struggle doing it myself: grabbing the reader in the opening few paragraphs of my book; embedding him or her immediately in the drama. Eventually, I always get things sorted out, but I usually have to get “slapped…
Read MoreSO WHAT’S IN A TITLE? SALES, FOR ONE THING
Lately, I’ve been asked a lot if the ongoing Ebola crisis–tentacles of which have slithered into our homeland–have done much for the sales of Plague. In short, no. I suspect the reason for that is that people don’t know the novel is about Ebola. It’s certainly not obvious from its title. If you don’t know, Plague is about bioterrorism, specifically…
Read MoreWHY I DIDN’T COMPLETE MY SUMMER READING LIST
At the beginning of summer I posted a blog detailing my reading goals for the season. Now that the hours of daylight are dwindling and the leaves are starting to don their autumnal hues, I guess it’s time to see how I did. Not that great, it turns out. I had nine books,…
Read MoreSLICING AND DICING MY “BABIES”
Rewriting. It’s not my favorite part of the writing process, but it is integral to it. Movies often depict authors as being finished with their work when they type THE END. Time to celebrate, right? Nope. In the real world of writing, that’s probably only half way home. Any experienced scribe will tell you writing is rewriting. …
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