Adverbs and Adjectives are NOT Your Friends
Okay, maybe they are friends, but let’s agree to classify them as the kind of friends you invite to your house and after a half-hour spend the rest of the night hatching different plans to get them to leave. Seriously. Too many writers, particularly when starting out, think that the more they sprinkle their prose […]
When Reviews Are Negative (Or Worse)
I almost never blog about reviews (especially poor ones). Truth is, I try not to read reviews very often. Every once in a while a top reviewer who requested a book copy will let me know they posted a review and I will go out and read it. But while I’m there, I can’t help […]
Thank You. It’s Not Just For Breakfast Anymore.
Have you thanked a soldier lately? Yes? Yeah, most of us have fallen into an appropriate habit of doing that (whereas we should have been doing it all along). I thanked a Sheriff’s Deputy the other day for his service. I realized as I was talking to him (after having called the police for the […]
BookBub: Indie Savior Or Donald Trump In Sheep’s Clothing?
A while ago (over a year) a writer friend turned me on to an advertising site that was not cheap, but had an extraordinarily large email list of readers in myriad genres. In other words, a bit of the Fountain of Find-the-Readers into which to bathe one’s books and come out the other side better-known […]
If The Dreamer Dies, Do You?
A very, very good friend of mine posted a picture today of his young son in a Captain America costume and quoted him as saying, “When I grow up, I want to be a superhero!” My friend, in his inimitable wisdom, replied to his son by telling him the following: You already are, son! You […]
One-Star Reviews Don’t Suck
Until midway through last year I had an unpleasant reaction to one-star reviews. Partly it was because, being a newer author, I had not received any. So the first one stung. The next one was worse, not because of the review, but because more than one meant the first one wasn’t a mistake. As writers […]
A Plug For Wise Bear Books (And Not Because They Gave Me A Nod)
It seems like I blog more than I write my books (which could be a good thing or bad, depending on who you ask). When I began writing this blog there was (of course) a motive to create a dot for myself on the map and, hopefully, grow it one day into a large metropolis […]
All For One, One For All: Not Just A Cliché
My first non-fiction book on writing is blog-touring for a couple of weeks, so I felt it was fitting to also post said blog here, in my own personal space, exactly as (hopefully) printed on the other sites. I hope you writers out there read this. I wrote this book for YOU. I don’t know […]
Even The Mighty Smaug Had A Weak Underbelly
My magnum opus received a rejection today, not for publication, but rather, that it was not qualified for a review by any “reviewers” on the website “The New Podler Review of Books: Small Press and self-published books worth reading”. Now I don’t remember ever submitting a review request to this site, although it’s possible. I […]
Summer Sales Upon Us?
My previous post was a bit heavy (as they will at times be) so I thought I would follow-up with something carrying “Summer” in the title. I’m unusually happy that Winter is behind us (by the way, I know that seasons aren’t technically capitalized, but I can’t help but find myself thinking that is wrong—am […]
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