Chris Abouzeid's Blog, page 8

Loosen the Leash

By Nichole Bernier A year ago we got a Bernese Mountain Dog pup. We named her Cricket because she was the least graceful thing ever to hop through grass. She eats. She eats socks. She eats toys. She eats my husband. She eats the house. Protectively, defensively, we’ve kept her ...

Grammar Crimes and Misdemeanors

By Juliette Fay When my first novel was being copy edited, I wasn’t terribly concerned. I’m a good speller, and spell-check finds any little typos, right? I also felt I had a pretty strong grasp on grammatical conventions. Piece of cake, I was thinking. Oh, how I hung my head in ...

Friday Faves: Head to Toe(nails)

By Kathy Crowley While this might look like a short and lazy post made up only of links to other people’s writing, I want you to know that I put in some serious work, searching and clicking and… more clicking, all with the intention of finding information to improve the ...

My Default Man: On Creativity, Pain, and Repetition

      By Robin Black   My default man is a bit passive, and he’s a good guy, solid – or anyway he seems to be, though he’s prone to sexual straying now and then, which argues against that first impression; but the guilt, it tears him up. He’s ...

Likeability Factors Laced With The Betty Crocker Syndrome (In Fiction)

By Randy Susan Meyers Speaking with readers, reading reviews, and being interviewed means walking between fascination, terror, joy, and angst. Three days ago, speaking about my just-released novel Accidents of Marriage, a reporter mentioned how surprised she was by her negative reactions to the main character—how she seemed to ‘provoke’ ...

Launch Day for ACCIDENTS OF MARRIAGE: Lucky All of Us!

   Robin Black   I remember as a child, forty years ago, hearing people argue about whether you could or couldn’t teach someone to “write well.” It’s a question that still haunts all the workshops out there, all the programs proliferating nation-wide, world-wide. And what’s become clear to me, in ...

11 Exciting New Meds for Authors

  Photo: iStockphoto By Chris Abouzeid It’s no secret that writers often suffer from psychological problems. The profession is so riddled with anxiety, depression, bipolar disease and narcissistic personality disorders (not to mention a disproportionate number of sex and internet addicts) that the American Psychiatric Association has begun handing out ...

Serious S*x! How to Prep Your Loved Ones

By Kim Triedman So the countdown to launch has begun – your first novel! – and everyone around you, from your hair-stylist to your therapist to your Zumba instructor, is hopped up and ready. Your kids are actually telling you how proud they are of you(!), and people you haven’t ...

Getting In The Mood: From Mercer To Oates

by Charles Garabedian Ever find yourself driving and a song comes on the radio that instantly takes you back to a memorable moment? I remember a time when I drove my elderly great aunt to the grocery store with Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique playing in the background. From the corner of my ...

My Critique Partner, Myself

By Bethanne Patrick For almost a year now I’ve been communicating–sometimes daily, sometimes just weekly–with a friend and fellow writer about accountability. We both realized we weren’t finding enough hours in our days to write, and felt that regular emails detailing time spent on our works in progress would be ...