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The last few months have been a beehive of activity, both good and bad, but one thing has seen me through all of these terrible and uplifting events — a new novel I’m writing, which has a very temporary working title "The Beacon Novel."
It tells the interconnected stories of five or six people in Beacon, a small city in the Hudson Valley Region of New York, just a short train ride outside of New York City...
Read moreI recently published a trilogy of blogs at the Writer’s Digest website offering advice on whether or not writers should self-publish (Part One), how to go about doing it if you choose to do so (Part Two), and what to do when you’re done creating your book and you're ready to sell it (Part Three). My general thoughts on whether or not self-publishing is a good idea is YES, you should give it a shot . . . but it does mean a certain amount of responsibility, hard work, and technical skill is needed to do it "right." Hopefully these blogs will help you along the way.
I’m a San Antonio Spurs fan and I have been for life, even before I knew it. I spent a good deal of my childhood in San Antonio, Texas, both before and after my parents divorced when I was three-years old. I spent every summer there between the ages of 8 and 19, then a year of college, and later three years in my late 20s, with little trips in between. My father’s side of the family has lived in Texas for generations (and generations), so the roots go deep. My dad was a fan and so was my grandfather. It's in the family, in the blood.
Read moreJack McDonald loses his farm and everything that went with it, save for the debt, and he wanders through the evening until he comes to Smut Milligan’s roadhouse just outside of town. Smut sells him some illegal corn whiskey and offers him a job as the roadhouse cashier. With nowhere else to go, Jack joins on the expanding operation and soon bears witness to the depths of humanity's greed, corruption, and vengeance. Set deep in the south during the Great Depression with a wide cast of believable, rough-and-tumble characters, James Ross’ They Don’t Dance Much is almost Shakespearian in its exposure of the darkness of the human soul, combining the best elements of Raymond Chandler, Flannery O’Connor, James M Cain, Jim Thompson, and even hints of William Faulkner’s Southern Gothic aesthetics.
Read moreI recently attended Writer’s Digest Conference East in New York City — my first writing conference in almost five years — and aside from the standard (though invaluable) advice on craft, career, and publishing options for writers, I picked up these seven tidbits of info that I found especially fascinating. You might too, so enjoy!
1. Bookmarks: Every reader needs them. Heck, I have about thirty around my apartment lying in wait and I still take more when I can. So think about creating some with your name and book title on them. They’re easy to make, inexpensive to print, and they can help spread the word about your book, name, website, or twitter handle long after someone has finished your book. It’s a great tip I picked up from Eric DelaBarre (former writer for Law & Order and author of the hit children’s novel Saltwater Taffy).
Read moreThey say writing for children is harder than writing your typical adult novel, and that never became more evident for me than when I worked on my middle-reader novel The Little Blue Knight vs. The End of the World. As adults, we’ve developed an innate understanding about how to communicate with each other — how our work day went, what happened over the weekend, giving a speech at work, etc. But few of us continually communicate with children on their own level — not just telling them what to do, but actual storytelling for and from their perspective. It’s a skill that slowly goes away as we grow up, so when you decide to take up the challenge of writing a children’s book, there are many things we adults need to understand and re-learn. Here are three things to keep in mind.
Read moreI used to think of myself as a good soldier when it came to sticking it out with a book, even if became dull in spots. I would push through, skim a bit if it got too rough, and often enough I was rewarded for my efforts with a solid ending. But the older I get, the less patience I have with a book that is lacking in captivation (or even worse, in quality storytelling or writing) and I have become comfortable with putting down a book that has lost me within the first 100 pages (my designated "do or die" line in the sand).
And yet, I feel ashamed for quitting on some books, great pieces of literature that have been impactful and important, but sometimes I just can’t keep the ship afloat and it becomes time to scramble for an exit and a sturdy inflatable raft. Here are five classic novels that I wish I finished, that I may yet finish one day, but for now I am ashamed that I quit halfway through.
Read moreLike most literary types, I consider myself a book hound and enjoy wandering endless shelves and stacks to sniff out deals and cross titles off of my “Must Read” list. I recently went on a day trip through parts of upstate New York (and a quick dip into Vermont) and hit up a bunch of shops, to varying results. Here I list my thoughts on each, share what I picked up, and assign a dreaded letter grade for each shop. (Remember those old, silver teacher pens that were red on one side and blue on the other? I want one of those!! I'll assign an A+ and a “Grape Job” scratch-and-sniff sticker to anyone who sends me one!!)
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