I received an Advance Reading Copy of Smoke Bitten via a contest. This is my non-spoiler review for those who won’t get to read it until March 17th. Mercy is at it again. And so is Patricia Briggs — she’s putting Mercy through stress and pain, torturing her with life and death decisions, and making…Continue reading Review: Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs
January Reading & Book Reviewing
Here in Salem, Oregon, we have a wonderful program called “Salem Reads” that encourages all library users to read the same fiction book and then attend a variety of talks and presentations on the subjects that book touched on. I’m behind reading this year’s official book and talks are coming up, so I plan to…Continue reading January Reading & Book Reviewing
Goals and Options
Can you believe it’s the first Monday of 2020 already? It feels like my brain is still stuck back in November or so, and hasn’t really caught up. And yet part of me is already thinking ahead to next Christmas and making lists of possible gifts for people. I think that’s why I’m feeling so…Continue reading Goals and Options
Alternate Versions
I submitted a short (3 paragraph) writing sample today. The content mill I submitted to wanted a short writing sample but didn’t want a first-person POV. So, of course, instead of working on the paragraphs I needed, I first wrote a first-person POV short essay on the subject. I find the most unique ways to…Continue reading Alternate Versions
Great vs. Good Writing
I’m 1.5 chapters into Illona Andrews’ book Iron and Magic and I’m already finding it to be 10 times better than the cozy mystery I’m half-way through. The characters are stronger and because of that the world feels more real (and the Andrews’ book is a fantasy while the cozy takes place in present day…Continue reading Great vs. Good Writing
It’s a Draft!
It’s been more than a week and I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I finished an actual draft of a book. 70,000+ words — some of them well written, and some thrown blindly at the page in hopes that the round 2 edit can actually make this into something good…Continue reading It’s a Draft!
Neighborhood Garage Sales
Summer to me means the rubbery taste of hot dogs, the whir of room fans, the smell of cut grass and gasoline…and the chaos of our annual HOA garage sale. I live in a house that’s part of a Home Owner’s Association, and have been on the board and on the social committee. Back in…Continue reading Neighborhood Garage Sales
Salem Reads Review
Salem Reads is an annual event (this is the third year) coordinated by the Salem, Oregon library. The Salem Public Library Foundation selection committee picks a book for each year, and creates a series of events around the book’s subject matter. This year the book was “Good Morning, Midnight” by Lily Brooks-Dalton. Events included talks…Continue reading Salem Reads Review
Copyright, Stolen Work, and Angry Authors
If you keep up with Writer Twitter (the area of twitter posts dominated by #amwriting and similar hashtags) you know about the latest upset about a Kindle author who plagiarized a whole group of romance writers, and used ghost writers to whack the stolen passages into a single (bad) book. Or more than one book,…Continue reading Copyright, Stolen Work, and Angry Authors
What I’m Reading: Feb 19 2019
I finally read the books I got for Christmas. I meant to read them in January, but the cold that I caught in October came back again in January, so I saved the books for when I felt better. Here are the xmas books: Hazard, by Devon Monk. So cute and fun…who knew I’d like…Continue reading What I’m Reading: Feb 19 2019