Researching Books Before the Internet

Yes, there was a time when we lived in caves, ate rocks and didn’t have an internet. Well, DARPA did, but the first Internet message was sent in 1969 and the system went down after two letters, but hey, it was a start. So, yeah, I actually wrote about that first...

Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Writers?

I heard that this weekend at the Writers of the Flathead Conference in Kalispell, Montana. I remember David Morrell saying the same thing at Thrillerfest several years ago. It’s a mantra. It used to worry me when I heard it, but then I realized my day job is...

“Worst Advice I’ve Heard from a Speaker”

This was what someone posted on a conference twitter thread that I recently spoke at. Of course, the speaker was moi. Making friends and sowing happiness wherever I go. The advice was to query every agent who attended the conference whether the attendee met the agent...

Every Author is Different based on the Three P’s

Product, Platform, Promotion. We all rate differently on those three, therefore any writing advice we get has to be factored through our own personal situation. One size does not fit all. I call my book on writing a Toolkit because I don’t believe there are any...

Your Voice as a Writer: Point of View

Honestly, this is the hardest topic to discuss or teach. For example, I wrote New York Minute in omniscient, translucent, single character. Right. Got it? What I mean is I wrote in omniscient voice, which is different than third person, but following only one...