J.R. Lindermuth's Blog, page 15

Words of Encouragement for My Peers

Fellow writers, if you're feeling discouraged I ask you to consider the career of John Dunning.

A high school dropout, he was rejected by the Army after only two weeks service because of a broken eardrum and then spent a period working for $1.05 an hour in a glass shop and later as a stable boy at a horse-racing track.

In a biographical sketch on his webpage, http://www.oldalgonquin.com/authorPag...,
Dunning explains his problems in school were the result of attention deficit disorder (ADD), w...

Get Your Facts Straight

Many writers fantasize about having their novels adapted to film. While the idea tantalizes with money and fame, there are adequate reasons to resist.

A case in point are the two cinematic versions of Ira Levin's A Kiss Before Dying (1956, a B-grade noir drama featuring Robert Wagner and Virginia Leith and the 1991 remake with Matt Dillon and Sean Young). Both have their entertaining aspects but do little for Levin's reputation.

Now a modern crime classic, the 1953 novel won Ira Levin an Edgar ...

Don't Take My Word For It

A review of a novel, film or other creative work is one person's opinion.

And that's exactly what it's meant to be. As Darryl Ponicsan, a better known coal region-born writer, put it, "An honest reviewer reads a book and says, 'I like it' or 'I don't like it' or 'I'm lukewarm about it,' and why."

So what does that mean to you, the reader?

Many select a book on the basis of genre, their knowledge of the author or the suggestion of a friend or family member. There also might be the influence of a...

To Be (Shelved), Or Not

"Why can't I get your books in (name your favorite chain bookstore)?"

It's a complaint we hear from time to time. The public may not be aware of it, but not all publishers are linked with Ingram or Baker & Taylor, the distributors of choice for most of the chain bookstores. It's not my purpose to get into the reasons here. Just stating the fact, ma'am.

My response to the complaint is usually to inform the person my books are available from the publisher, from Amazon and numerous other on line s...

Fourth in Series

"Being Someone Else," fourth in the Sticks Hetrick mystery series is scheduled for release today, July 15, by Whiskey Creek Press, www.whiskeycreekpress.com.

Some people believe violence is foreign to our nature. Dan 'Sticks' Hetrick, retired chief and consultant to the Swatara Creek police department, knows better. We put a lid on our natural tendency to violence when we started living in groups, devising moral codes to hold it in check and allow us to live in harmony with others. But, deep ...

The Secret Ingredient

Name your favorite novel.

Now consider what makes that novel stand out from others.

I'll wager for many of us the answer will be character. Your particular favorite character may differ from mine. But many will cite Emma. Or David Copperfield. Ahab. Atticus Finch. Holden Caulfield. A dozen others who have achieved immortality in our imagination.

So what is it about our particular favorite character that resonates?

Again I'll wager the answer is because the author has created a character who is as...

Being Someone Else

Whiskey Creek Press (www.whiskeycreekpress.com) will publish Being Someone Else, fourth in the Sticks Hetrick mystery series, on July 15.

Some people believe violence is foreign to our nature. Dan 'Sticks' Hetrick, retired chief and consultant to the Swatara Creek police department, knows better. We put a lid on our natural tendency to violence when we started living in groups, devising moral codes to hold it in check and allow us to live in harmony with others. But, deep down in the Id, there...

Here's to You, Dad

The Christian bible (and tenets of other religions) admonishes us to honor our fathers. Unfortunately, it's taken us awhile to get around to it.

For instance, a day to honor them was first proposed in the U.S. in 1910 by Sonora Smart Dodd, a Spokane, WA woman who thought fathers deserved equal recognition with mothers. But when President Woodrow Wilson suggested making it a national observance a few years later Congress balked, contending it would become commercialized. (Can you imagine Congre...

Coming Soon

If you've read and enjoyed any of the Sticks Hetrick mysteries, you'll be pleased to know Whiskey Creek Press soon will release BEING SOMEONE ELSE, fourth in the series.

If you haven't read them, now's a good time to start. The novels are available in print and electronic form, including Kindle. Other novels in the series are Something In Common, Cruel Cuts and Corruption's Child.

Daniel 'Sticks' Hetrick is the retired police chief of rural Swatara Creek, Pennsylvania, and serves as consultant ...

Understanding Backwards

History too often gets a bad rap.

Students dismiss it as boring. Politicians and others with a biased agenda abuse its factuality. But the truth is out there and available to any willing to take the time to search. Since that involves time and effort, history is either ignored or perverted.

"A land without ruins is a land without memories—a land without memories is a land without history."

The poet Abram Joseph Ryan who penned those lines recognized that history is based on memory. Though not a...