Scott Harris's Blog, page 3

Mile 38: Self-Publishing – Yes or No?

What do self-publishing and online dating have in common? Both used to be thought of as signs of desperation and failure. No longer. Self-publishing is now a perfectly respectful avenue to take in order to get your book out to the paying public. Many argue that online dating apps are much safer than bars —

Mile 37: Agent – Yes or No?

Now that you’re rolling along with your first Western (and you are, right?), you may be starting to think about which major, New York, internationally renowned, representative of New York Times best-selling authors only, superstar you want to be your agent. Or not. The reality is that agents are far more difficult to come by

Mile 36: Reviews

“You can make some of the people happy some of the time, but there ain’t no way you can make all of the people happy all of the time.” – Arlo Flynn, Western Author Recently, the January 2019 issue of True West magazine showed up in my mailbox. I was thrilled, surprised and honored to

Mile 35: Consistency

In a previous blog post, I discussed the value and importance of accuracy, making sure the facts you use in your novel are accurate, because if they are not, your readers will know — and they’ll let you know. In the same vein, you need to make sure that you are consistent throughout your book

Mile 34: Read Great Writers

This is one the easiest, and hopefully the most obvious, ideas I’ve shared on this blog. If you want to be a great writer, heck, if you want to be any kind of writer — READ. Read Westerns for sure. Read some of the great Western authors, new authors, old pulp magazines — just read.

Mile 33: Perfection

Perfect is the enemy of good. Many attribute this to Voltaire from the year 1770, and I’m going to go along with them, because it’s the message that matters, not so much the messenger. During WWII, in reaction to the devastating Luftwaffe attacks, a British man named Robert Watson-Watt developed an early warning system that

Mile 32: Accuracy

I have mentioned the importance of factual accuracy in previous essays, but I believe it’s worth devoting an entire essay to. If you are going to use specifics in your writing, you need to ensure that they are accurate, right down to the caliber and word. Many Western readers are well versed in the history

Mile 31: Santa Cruz Island

Santa Cruz Island is located off of the coast of Southern California and is the largest of the eight islands that make up the Channel Islands. It is 22 miles long, and at its widest point, it is 6 miles wide. It is one of the five islands that make up Channel Islands National Park.

Book Review: Presenting the Best of Tumbleweeds: An, Uh, Unusual Saga of the Old West

In one way, today’s Monday Western review is nothing out of the ordinary. Every Monday, I review a Western book or movie, and today is no different. It’s a book. But it is a little bit different. Today’s review is for a 1994 collection of comics, specifically Tom Ryan’s “Tumbleweeds” — his long-defunct daily comic.

Mile 30: MasterClass

MasterClass is on online education platform, fairly new, but extremely well done, both in concept and execution. Last year my son generously bought me a full subscription to all of their tutorials and lectures. It has proven to be a joy and very beneficial. In the simplest of terms, the good people at MasterClass have