Cool Facts by Tina Whittle Write what you know, they say (they being smart teachers of writing). It’s excellent advice. I just happened to ignore it. I decided instead to write about wildly complicated things like neuroscience and Special Weapons and Tactics. Which means I spend an enormous amount of time neck-deep in utterly fascinating […]
Turning Points and Aha Moments By Karla Brandenburg There were a series of insurance company commercials not long ago with people talking about their Aha moments, the turning points in their lives that changed the way they do or see things. For me, I’ve been writing stories all my life, from the time I was […]
Series, Standalones, or Connected Books? By Terry Odell Series, Standalones, or Connected Books? I write all three, but what’s the real difference? In a series, such as my Mapleton Mystery series, there’s one featured protagonist throughout the entire series. Think Harry Bosch, or Lucas Davenport, Elvis Cole, Joe Pickett—and of course the mystery authors here […]
Does Formatting Matter? by James M Jackson I speculated to a friend that with more people reading on electronic readers, tablets, and phones that many people are no longer bothered by wonky formatting issues. Would that tolerance gradually spread to printed material as well? Nancy J. Cohen talked about recently revising and reissuing her backlist […]
Five Authors Share About Spring by Maggie Toussaint, Nancy J Cohen, James M Jackson, Terry Odell, and Tina Whittle With Spring comes nice weather, and the temptation to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. Of course, for writers, writing is their job, just like any other job, but it’s easy to want to set aside […]
Southern Gentlemen by Tina Whittle In my Tai Randolph mysteries, I write a corporate security agent named Trey Seaver. He’s the rational, rule-bound counterpart to my somewhat reckless, intuitive narrator, Tai. I get mail about him. Boy howdy, do I. Some readers like to watch him using his SWAT cop skills; others like him best […]
St. Patrick’s Day by Terry Odell My week here starts on St. Patrick’s Day. Americans have adopted this holiday, although our country’s traditions aren’t the same as they are in Ireland. One of my daughters now lives in Northern Ireland, and pointed out that corned beef and cabbage are not part of the celebration. Nor […]
Bucket Lists By James M. Jackson You know them, right? Bucket Lists: a compilation of the things you would like to do before you kick the bucket. Since I am at the stage in life where I am closer to kicking the bucket than not, I’ve had many years to chip away at my list. […]
Do you have a pet? by Karla Brandenburg Pets play an important part in our lives, and even if all haven’t adopted one, we generally have sympathy for some kind of animal. (Don’t ask me about my son and baby hippos). I grew up with and still have cats, which are often featured on my […]
Mementos By Tina Whittle One afternoon along the Mississippi, I became the girl who reads tarot. It was in New Orleans, of course, the land of beignets and chicory coffee and lagniappe. I was at an academic conference with my friends from the university where I taught. These were the same people I passed in […]
