
Grammar Crimes
By Debra Goldstein |
By Lois Winston Do you have a grammar pet peeve? I do, thanks to Peggy Riley Hughes, my seventh and eighth-grade English teacher. Because of Mrs. Hughes, I cringe whenever I hear or read poor grammar. If the world had more Peggys, Iโd cringe a lot less. To boldly go where no man has gone …
Surprise! Itโs a Sequel!
By Debra Goldstein |
By Bethany Maines In this day of Marvel Universes and streaming limited– run shows, no, itโs not a surprise that itโs a sequel. It seems like everyone is embracing the sequel world-building ethos. But how is it that Marvel is thriving while DC canโt seem to figure out how to connect… anything? Or, for that …
Do You See What I See? by James M. Jackson
By Debra Goldstein |
By James M. Jackson Answer me this: Itโs summer. I point to any sugar maple in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan forest my protagonist Seamus McCree calls home and ask, what color are its leaves? We all know the answer: green. Yet, what I cannot know is if the โgreenโ you see is the same …
The Deep Thrill by Barbara Kyle
By Debra Goldstein |
By Barbara Kyle Mystery. Thriller. Romance. Science Fiction. Horror. The publishing industry uses these labels for what they call โgenreโ novels. Literary critics often dismiss genre novels as lightweight, even trivial. But are they? After all, it can be argued that even classic literary novels fall within the bounds of some genre. Jane Austen’s Pride …
Art as Therapy โ Filling the Well by Cheryl Hollon
By Debra Goldstein |
As some of you know, writers today are responsible for a significant portion of their books’ virtual and in-person promotion work. Marketing is fun but, at the same time, can be draining. I tend to push very hard for the month before and after a bookโs release date. That means up to twelve hours a …
Art as Therapy โ Filling the Well by Cheryl Hollon Read More ยป
The Writer as Vagabond by Molly MacRae
By Debra Goldstein |
The word vagabond strolled into my head the other day. Iโve always liked the word so I was happy to see it and to have it stick around for a while. I like the sound of itโfull and round but with concrete edges in the G and the D, and with that tiniest buzz you …
Punderful Titles
By Debra Goldstein |
By Meri Allen (aka Shari Randall) Iโll never forget the moment I opened the email from my editor announcing the title of my cozy mystery debut in the Lobster Shack Mystery series. I was sitting across the breakfast table from my daughter who was enjoying a bowl of cereal when I read the title. โCurses, …
Countdown!
By Debra Goldstein |
Five Belles Too Many, the fifth Sarah Blair mystery from Kensington, releases June 28th and there still is so much to do. Hereโs whatโs going on, hereโs what needs to still be done, and hereโs where you might be able to help: Iโm in the middle of a Great Escapes Tour. It began on June …
The Art Center Mysteries by Susan Van Kirk
By Debra Goldstein |
By Susan Van Kirk For the past eight years, Iโve written a series called the Endurance Mysteries. Their setting is the small town of Endurance in west central Illinois. The same main characters inhabit each book, so over these years Iโve grown to know these imaginary people quite well. It would be easy to keep …
Putting a little thriller in the cozy
By Debra Goldstein |
By Terry Ambroseย One million words. Itโs a big number. Right? Somewhere along the way during my writing journey, I passed that number. In fact, Iโm probably closing in on two million now. Originally, I started out writing a psychological thriller. I soon realized I couldnโt do it. My villains were way too wimpy. Unfortunately, …