Pat Bertram's Blog, page 318

Writing as Conversation with Readers

One of the guest stops on my Daughter Am I blog tour is the Second Wind Publishing Blog. I talk about a fan letter  (well, fan email) I received, and cite a quote by John Cheever, "I can't write without a reader. It's precisely like a kiss — you can't do it alone."

Many writers don't consider readers — they write solely for themselves, or at least they say they do — but often as I am writing a passage (or more precisely, after I have written it), I wonder what readers will think. Will they...

Interview and Giveaway!

I have been doing so many interviews for this blog tour, that by the time it's over, there won't be anything left for you to discover about my life – or at least my writing life, which comes down to the same thing.

I am visiting Book Reviews by Bobbie today for an interview, which includes an excerpt from Daughter Am I and a book giveaway. You don't have to enter a contest, just leave a comment. (Daughter Am I is my young woman/old gangsters coming of age adventure.)

Today is the beginning of...

I Fear, You Fear, We All Fear

Sheri Parks, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, says that many teens today have had years of exposure to violent video games and media images, which studies show desensitizes them to violence.

How odd to think that there are now studies showing this desensitization. Many of today's — and yesterday's — video games were developed by the military because studies had shown that repeated images of violence and death inured people to killing. In World War II, as many as 85% of...

Plagiarism?

I had a bit of a scare this morning. I checked my blog as usual found a comment on my "Origin of the Grim Reaper" bloggery from someone named Robert Weniger, who said: You Plagiarist. I posted the exact words and you copy/pasted it from my website.

Um . . . What??

I love WordPress and all the statistics and information one gets! Besides email addresses from commenters, wordpress notes the IP address. I searched for Weniger's address on the "What is My IP Address" site, and discovered the...

Persisting in Delusion

"It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." — Carl Sagan

Is this true? When it comes to the cosmic universe, perhaps. When it comes to our personal universe, is it better to persist in delusion? Isn't that what a dream is, a delusion? The dream might be attainable with luck and hard work, in which case it's not a delusion. If it is not attainable, is it better to hold on to the dream or is it better to depersist in...

Writer Am I

I did not come up with that great title for this bloggery, my host today, L.V. Gaudet, did. (Since you are all familiar with the title of my new book, Daughter Am I, I know you get the gist.) I'm hoping everyone goes to pay L.V. a visit. She says such wonderful things about me, that I want everyone to know! And, oh, yes — she's also posted an article of mine in which I say that it does not matter how long it takes you to write a novel or how many words you write each day. All that matters is...

What Hooks a Reader — Blog Tour Day Ten

Though it is actually night here,  it's still day ten of my Daughter Am I blog tour.

The reference to night and day reminds me of one of those standardized tests I took when I was in second grade. The question was, "How many hours are in a day?" I knew, of course, that there were twenty-four hours in a day's span, but for some reason, I took the question to mean day as opposed to night. I knew that there were variable daylight hours — that was apparent from the way the sun set earlier each...

Daughter Am I Blog Tour 2009 Update

Day nine of the Daughter Am I blog tour, and I am still going strong. I actually went to bed before midnight last night, and I'm a bit more rested. Good thing — there is a lot going on today! First, check out "After the Writing Comes the Work." Great discussion going on at that unscheduled tour stop, and a wonderful compliment about Daughter Am I.

Next, check out "How Best To Procrastinate" on Claire Collins's blog. It was actually yesterday's tour stop, but I kept finding other things to do...

Welcome to the Business of Writing

To celebrate the eighth day of the Daughter Am I blog tour, I am treating myself to a guest here on Bertram's Blog. That means one less post I have to write. Oh, joy! While Claire Collins is guesting here, I will be at her blog talking about How Best to Procrastinate. When you get a moment, please visit Claire's Blog and join in the fun. 

Claire Collins  is the author of Images of Betrayal and Fate and Destiny, both published by Second Wind Publishing. Claire says:

Welcome to the Business of...

Reviewing Interviews

I made it through the first week of my blog tour!! I'm getting to the hard part, though. I have several interviews coming up, and it's challenging keep from making identical responses to identical questions. There really is only one story behind the writing of Daughter Am I –  I wanted to use the true tales of the Syndicate an historian friend used to tell me, and I wanted to do a mythic journey, so I combined the two ideas into the book –  but I don't want to bore people bycontinually...