Alan Orloff's Blog, page 28

Written in the Clouds

 

Just fooling around. (It's a DIAMONDS FOR THE DEAD tagxedo picture.)

Experts Teach

On Saturday, I attended MWA University, a one-day symposium on mystery writing. It was great! I learned a lot, met some new friends, and caught up with some old ones.

Instead of recapping it here, I'll direct you to Ingrid King's blog, where she did a great job of summarizing the day's events.

If you ever get the chance to attend one of these, my advice is simple: GO!

Care for a Bookmark?

Last week, I mentioned my bookmark project. Here's what I've come up with, front and back. (The actual, printed PDF images seem a little crisper than these on-screen. Also, these images include some bleed room, ie, the margins on the real bookmarks won't be as large.)

I know, many of you think I've included too many words. However, when someone asks me what my book's about, I can just hand them a bookmark, rather than go through the spiel myself. And I'm all for talking as little as...

Don't You Hate it When…

You spend a couple days outlining the plot for a novel, in addition to creating some character sketches. You come up with a few character names and you write a portion of the first scene. You put away the project because something more important came along.

Then, years later, you search for the file.

You look everywhere—on your computer, on your backup hard drive, on your backup CDs. You check your file cabinets, in case you printed it out, and you go through old notebooks (just in case...

A is for Me

Today, I'm honored to be interviewed at Aerin Bender-Stone's blog, In Search of Giants, as part of her Back-to-School A-Z author interview series.

 

 

Learn what my favorite subjects were, what I looked forward to at lunch (besides the lunch ladies' evil glares), and find out if I made the high school golf team.

Click over and check it out!

Thanks, Aerin!

2 x 7.25 Inches

Now that I've completed a draft of my WIP and it's out being read by my crack critiquers, I can spend some time on other things. This week's project: designing a bookmark to promote KILLER ROUTINE.

Over the years, I've been collecting bookmarks from other writers, to steal ideas draw inspiration from.

Many elements are included on these bookmarks:

Book description Author bio Author picture Book cover art Bibliography of other books Contact info, including web addresses...

The Shoe-Tying Project

I like when tasks are organized into "projects." Being immersed in something for a finite period of time seems to be my preferred mode of operation. In past jobs, or in school, I was always more engaged knowing there'd be an ending to whatever I was working on (rather than toiling at something day-after-day with no end in sight. You know, like forever).

That's why I enjoy writing novels.

I can bust my butt on them for two or three months (or longer), then move on to another project. Sure...

Ptomaine's House of Beef

When you're writing a story, there are many times when you'll have to come up with a fictitious name for a product or place of business. To me, names are important. Some connote class, others bring to mind frivolity. Still others are descriptive, scary, mundane, exotic, or just plain ridiculous.

I always think hard when I make up names in my books.

If only people in real life took as much care.

Here are a few examples of product/place names that I thought were, uh, interesting:

...

Look Out Beta Readers!

I'm in the process of making the final* pass through my WIP before it goes to my beta readers.

Specifically, I'm looking at:

Bolstering descriptions, of settings and people Incorporating the five senses Spelling/grammar/typos/awkward sentences Overuse of pet words: that, just, maybe, Kyrgyzstan Making sure the chapter numbers are in order Characters who are always smiling, nodding, shrugging, or guffawing.

Last night, I awoke at three a.m. with some ideas about...

Eleven Times Faster

It's a treat to welcome guest blogger Cricket McRae. A fellow Midnight Ink author, Cricket's new book was just released: SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING BLEU, the fourth book in the Home Crafting Mystery Series. She also recently started a blog, Hearth Cricket. Take it away, Cricket!

Thanks for inviting me to post here on A Million Blogging Monkeys, Alan!

The other day a few writer friends and I were sitting around talking about, believe it or not, writing. This happens to a frightening d...