Cass Tell's Blog

The Wings Series - It Will Rankle

Writing the Wings Series is a challenge, to say the least, and I have a suspicion it will rankle some people. If you have read any of my novels, they dip into various subjects, anything from technology to poetry. This undoubtedly reflects a wandering mind. But the Wings Series goes in another direction, which makes this one very different and more difficult.
 
First, these stories are shorter than classic novels. It’s not easy to pack a ton of action into a 17,000 thousand word, 90-minute read wi...

The SAVANT- "It made me feel different in a way that nothing has."

My new novel, The SAVANT, has just been published and I'm thrilled to see the first two reviews posted on Amazon. Many thanks to those reviewers, who I don't know. I wish I did. I wish I could thank them.

One of them made a surprising comment. She said, "This book did something to me that I cannot explain. It made me feel different in a way nothing ever has."

That's quite a statement, and it genuinely touched me. An editor who read the draft said something similar. The book seems to have an im...

Helping Redempta

Sometimes people in need come across your path. Every winter I travel to Africa to get away from cold winters and find new ideas for my novels. And where possible, I help with humanitarian projects. For the past couple of years I've been supporting a young teenager in her studies and this year I met her mother.

Let me introduce you to Redempta. She's a beautiful 40 year old Rwandan mother of four children, abandoned by her husband. Two years ago her twelve year old daughter Amandine became si...

100 books given to prisoners

In December I gave one hundred copies of my books to prisoners.

While doing research for a new short story, I was deeply touched by some shocking statistics, and saw a need. Something has to be done. Sadly, there are over 2.2 million people incarcerated in U.S. prisons. Prisons are lonely and dangerous places offering little hope. Once released, two out of three prisoners will re-offend. I asked myself how we could redeem lives? Then, I found out that prisoners ask for books, everything from...

Do You Like High Heels?

Do you like high heel shoes? What are your favorites? At social events I’ve noticed a diversity of high heel shoes on women. The artistic detail is impressive and shows the creativity of the designers. And best of all high heels seem to extend a woman’s legs, a delight to the eyes. There is something feminine about them that definitely differentiates the sexes.

There’s a lot of controversy about high heels, usually about the health impact to the spine and feet. Surveys show that approximate...

The New Female Dialect. What happened to women's voices?

Photo by D. Sharon Pruitt All people live by a culture which is made of up belief systems, habits and norms. At the same time cultures change and for some reason the cultural norms change quite quickly in the United States where cultural fads quickly come and go.

In my recent trip to the United States I was struck by how many young women were speaking with odd gravely voices, which I discovered is known as “ creaky voice “ or “vocal fry”. This is a form of speaking where vocal chords are r...

Finding a Pen Name and a Place to Write

Recently one of my friends here in Spain asked why I chose the pen name Cass Tell? He recognized that I have a need for personal discretion and indeed that’s one of the reasons I decided to live in a remote area of the Costa Brava . Since moving here I’ve found out that many artists, writers and poets live in this area. In fact, in meeting one of the local writers I asked him if there was anything like a get together of these people, having an image of Bohemian artist/writer get together...

Multiple Wives

Today I was in Bonners Ferry with Jacob who manages the ranch where I am staying. Jacob needed to get some Alfalfa seeds to sow on several acres so that they can have enough hay for the cows and horses the following year. The ranch is owned by my old business partner, but he is currently somewhere in the Caribbean on his yacht. I decided not to stay in his main ranch house, but rather in a log cabin that is in a remote place at the end of the ranch.

The owner of the seed store had a beard, che...

An Eclectic Mix of People

My trip to the north of Idaho is an attempt to get into a new environment and hopefully get over writer’s block. I need to find an ending to the Blue Fate series, a set of novels I have been working on. My main character is stuck in an irresolvable moral dilemma and I’m not quite sure where to take the story. I’ve got some ideas but they create more questions than answers.

It was a long set of flights from Barcelona, Spain to Spokane, Washington, and then a three hour car drive up here near th...

Writer’s Block

Lately I’ve been suffering from 'writer’s block', a condition which probably hits all writers at some point in time. Technically writer’s block is defined as, “A usually temporary psychological inability to begin or continue work on a piece of writing.” Indeed, we hope the key word here is ‘temporary‘. In my case it has to do with the Blue Fate series.
Log house in Northern Idaho Some years ago I began to question the concept of fate. It came from several events that happened in my life...