Barbara Fradkin's Blog, page 162

More Writers on Writing, or Misery Loves Company

Dorothy Parker



I'm having trouble with my work in progress. I'm always having trouble with my work in progress, whatever novel that may be and whenever I am working on it. I was moaning to myself about it recently, as I tend to do, when it occurred to me that when it comes to writing, I'm quite the whiney little creature and have been from the beginning. I think writing is difficult. The

Finding my muse

Aline's post about chattering monkeys and accessing our subconscious connected with me on so many levels. I've always believed writing - the creative process of it - was part magic, and I never wanted to analyze it too closely for fear of losing that magic. I love that my mind goes to unexpected places, and that ideas pop randomly into it while I'm in the middle of a scene. It's one of the

Looks as if print books might be here to stay.

by Rick Blechta



I found an interesting article on the Penguin Random House website about book reading trends in the US. Read it by clicking HERE. I’ll wait while you do.

Okay, so the big take-away is that Americans are still reading at roughly the same rate as last year: 72% having read or partially read at least one book. That’s sort of good news. (I’d like to know the number of people who

The External Subconscious

I have just come back, very reluctantly, from our French holiday.  Yes I know, kicking and screaming and lying on the quay sobbing isn't dignified, but - well, you know how it is.  It doesn't seem right to stop doing something that is so obviously exactly what you were born to do - sitting in sunny shade, reading, a cool glass of something just to hand...

I read a lot of good books. I like ones

A Tale of Two Books...with a bonus

July 10 is the laydown date, to use a vintage publishing term, for the release of Blood and Gasoline, the latest anthology from Hex Publishers and which I edited. John Hartness wrote the foreword and I lifted this to use as the cover blurb: Mad Max meets Sons of Anarchy. It's a collection of desperate characters cornered in desperate situations--my kind of stories. I won't say which were my

Yanny v. Laurel

I’ve finished reviewing the ARC proofs of Designed For Haunting and I’ve started on Ghosts of Painting Past. My life right now consists of that plus figuring out promotional events for when Designed launches October 9th. And, honestly, I’m a bit tired of it all.

So I’ve decided to think about something else.

Do you all remember the gold vs. blue dress controversy awhile back? Here’s the photo

Profound disappointment at the finish line

by Rick Blechta



Everyone likes being told a good story. They provide so much enjoyment and make the outside world melt away. If the tale really resonates with you, you might find it still in your thoughts for years. It could even have the power to change your life.

For me, it’s money well spent to buy such a book, but you don’t even have to do that if you’re a library user or if someone loans

Searching for Inspiration

By Vicki Delany



THE SPOOK IN THE STACKS, published on June 12 by Crooked Lane
Books, is my 30th published book. 
Wow! Seems like a lot.  It is a
lot.







What thirty novels means, is that I’m running out of ‘ideas’.  Ah, yes, the proverbial ‘idea’.  At the beginning of my writing career I had SOMETHING
TO SAY. My standalones (Burden of Memory, Scare the Light Away)
discussed, in broad

Setting and Social Issues

Yesterday in her post, Donis wrote, "Setting is important to characterization." I've been thinking about that because of a brief conversation that I had with a colleague a couple of days ago. She was talking with a group of other people and as she saw me walking by, she paused to tell me she had finished reading all five of my Lizzie Stuart novels and the two Hannah McCabe novels set in Albany. I

The Places We'll Write About

Here?




Or here?


I've been thinking about surroundings lately.  My own private space says a lot about me, and it's made me consider how important it is, therefore, to describe a character's environment a novel. You can learn a lot about him from the setting in which he is placed.

You know how it is when you buy a red Toyota, thinking you're all unique, and then every other car you see on