Writer Unboxed

The synopses of fellow blogger Jeri Smith-Ready’s first two books recently caught my eye. Requiem for the Devil is a book exploring what might happen if Lucifer himself fell in love. Jeri’s new Aspect of Crow fantasy series, published by LUNA books, is also unique, exploring the interconnectedness of man and nature when animals become […]

A fantasy novel that includes a convincing, original imaginary world AND a great story AND complex, memorable characters is a treat to be savoured. Sadly, for every one of those I discover, there are ten books I can’t get through. Poor research in fields I know about, such as music, is one major turn-off, and […]

I’m a big Charlotte Bronte fan. Jane Eyre is book Number One in my pantheon, with Lord of the Rings and Emma tied for a distant second. Since I’m a fan, I keep up with the Bronte fan blogs (they exist, yo) so I can get the latest gossip on film adaptations and […]

She wore a black dress with a pink sash to match her shock of hair, and she was being sponsored by a funeral home.
“Go on down, they’re dying to meet you,” she said when introducing her benefactors, and the crowd laughed at this, our first inside glimpse of a standout girl in a beauty […]

I love the Geico cavemen. Every time the commercials flash across the t.v., I stop what I’m doing and pay attention. My current favorite is the therapist commercial: Talia Shire listens to a caveman complain about the disrespect he gets from Geico and how the insurance company’s ad campaign is ruining his life. Even his […]

Noir crime fiction has been around forever, and yet it’s beginning a renaissance in genre fiction. The wheel never gets invented the same way twice, however. Duane Swierczynski’s latest release, THE BLONDE, is a good example of the fresh spin novelists are bringing to an old classic. The novel’s pacing is bullet-fast, the characters weird […]

I have a confession to make, one that not even my closest friends have heard. Oh, the shame! But I’m among amiable strangers here, which makes it easier somehow. Remember my most recent completed manuscript, the English Civil War story set on Dartmoor in southern England? Well, my editor hates it.
Okay, maybe that’s a bit […]

Tidbits from the world of genre literature. Flashpan genre alert: yummy mummy. The chick-lit heroines enter their 30’s and have kids who talk back, husbands who’ve gotten fat, dogs they can’t potty train, and regrets to dissect with their girlfriends over mojitos and 100-calorie snack packs.  Anyone else see a Menopause Mavens trend becoming hot ten years from now? (h/t Booksquare)
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This past week has passed in a blur for me. I live a secret life you see, as an Odyssey of the Mind coach for my son’s third-grade team. This weekend was our big competition.
The seven kids who comprised our team were eager students along the way, learning the basics of building story with […]

Last week I blogged about the Florid Verb and how too many of those fancy, four-syllable verbs can rob your prose of power and authenticity, but used judiciously can make your writing pop.
The topic got my juices flowing about other style precepts (whoops, fancy word alert!), and I dug out the writer’s old reliable, Strunk […]

“I poisoned your drink.”
Thus began the opening of Duane Swierczynski’s latest noir crime thriller, THE BLONDE, and the ride Swierczynski took the reader on was fueled by an edgy explosion of hare-lean prose and rapid-fire dialogue.  By the time I finished THE BLONDE I felt like I’d been in a NASCAR race without a seatbelt.  And all done in 220 […]

I’m putting on my health-writer cap to ask you an important question today: Sit much?
As a writer, I’ll bet you do. It’s important to chat about, because anyone who sits for long periods of time can be at risk for a condition called deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Large blood clots can form in the […]