June 11, 2025
I want to write a short story for a contest. I’ve written a couple short stories in the past that were published, but usually when I think I’m writing a short story it turns out to be a novel. I’ve heard people say, if you want to be a writer, start out writing short stories. […]
October 28, 2020
How much backstory does a reader need in order to understand a character, and how soon does the writer need to include that information? The answer to the first part of that question is the usual—it depends. When to include the information is a little easier to pinpoint, but not always. Okay, you’re probably thinking, […]
October 21, 2020
Tomorrow, October 22nd, A KILLER PAST will be available as an e-book. No, this isn’t a new book, but for over two years Mary Harrington’s story in e-book fashion has been missing, and its disappearance is a good example of how little control most authors have over their books. Originally, A KILLER PASTwas published in […]
July 25, 2018
I thought converting the PDF file I had that Hale Books Ldt used to print the hardcover version of A KILLER PAST would be easy. Simply convert the PDF document to a Word document, go through it and change the English use of single quotes for dialogue to our American way of using double quote […]
May 11, 2016
In 1994 Debra Dixon was the guest speaker at the Mid-Michigan RWA Chapter’s “Retreat From Harsh Reality.” That was the first time I heard her talk about GMC: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict. It was one of those light bulb moments. I’d been writing for over ten years by then, but what Debra was saying made […]
July 22, 2015
Last week I put on my first (and maybe only) book party. I couldn’t call it a book release party since my two books actually came out the end of May and first of June. But it was a party, and I did sell books. The idea of having this party started last summer. I […]