Tate Hallaway's Blog, page 53
June 24, 2009
On-Line Promotion and other Pitfalls
From time to time, fellow Wyrdsmith Kelly McCullough and I get into a heated (or at least intense) discussion about the efficacy of author promotion. Though, really, at the bottom line, I think Kelly and I both agree that an author really can't do all that much to bump sales figures significantly (other than write a good book or just happen to "hit" the right moment), I tend to maintain that I need to do a bit of self-promotion or I feel guilty/responsible/insane.
This article sent to me by fello
June 23, 2009
On-Line Murder Investigaton Class
********************Permission to Forward****************************
RWA's Mystery/Suspense Chapter is pleased to announce our COFFIN College of Felony and Intrigue MURDER ONE online Workshop for the month of July 2009.
WORKSHOP: Crime Scene Investigations and Fingerprints: The Two Part Class
PART ONE: Crime Scene Investigations: Okay, you got the call -- Now, what? What to expect at a crime scene. This will be an interactive workshop giving scenarios of crimes and how you would/should/could han
June 22, 2009
New Moon Monday
As those of you who are astrologically savvy already know, today is the New Moon, which is a good time for beginning new projects and genearally starting something new. So are up to anything fun? Creative?
Me, I'm trying not to sweat too much. It's hot and muggy here in Minnesota. We're supposed to get temperatures in the 90s F (32 C). Over the weekend one of my fish tank filters decided to gum up and spot working, so this morning there was much sweating and "ewwwww"ing as I got that thing g
June 17, 2009
Excuse and an On-Line Class
Sorry for the long absence, my son contracted something that very well might have been Swine Flu (he had all the symptoms, but we have no official confirmation), and so I've had to keep him out of school for the required seven days. What, in June, you ask? Shouldn't he be on summer vacation anyway? Mason goes to a year-round school, so no. He's at school until August, which is actually nice for me and my writing schedule... usually. The ironic part of all this is that he's been fully recove
June 11, 2009
Skill Versus Talent
One thing you're going to hear me say a lot during this discussion about writing is that there is more than one way to do to [fill in the blank.:] My way is only what works for me, and might turn out to be total anathema to how you write best. Use my methods, etc., only if you wish. Also, writing is, for me, one of life's Great Mysteries. No matter how often I teach in-person classes, take them, or read books about writing, a lot of how it actually WORKS remains opaque to me. I think this is one
June 10, 2009
Ways to Critique, More on Writers' Groups
One of the other things you need to decide once you have a writers group, is how often to meet and how you're going to do the critiques.
The group I'm currently in meets every other week (or, at least twice a month.) I've been in workshops that meet monthly, but one thing we discovered is that if, for some reason you have to cancel, it's a LONG time until the next meeting. This can be especially bad if you have novelists in your group. The memory can be quite strained by trying to remember who, w
June 9, 2009
A New Review of DIID
I'm sorry I keep interrupting myself, but, honestly, it's so much easier to post about the nice things people have said about me than... uh, think. Here's a great review of Dead If I DO by the kind folks over at Enchanting Reviews. "Dead If I Do: 5 Enchantments!"
[image error]June 8, 2009
Top o' The List to Ya!
Google Alerts found this for me this morning, and I have to smile. At least I make a best seller's list somewhere! Top 10 Metaphysical Books at Eye of Horus
Tomorrow I hope to continue the writers group/new-to-writing blogs, but I have to confess the cold, gray rainy day is calling me to sit inside with a warm cat on my lap, have some tea, and write like a demon from hell. :-)
[image error]June 3, 2009
More Good Writerly Advice
This from Kim Richards on "Charge of the Write Brigade," who answered the question: What is the number one mistake writers make when submitting to you?
[image error]Advice From Somewhere Else
This came through a list that I'm on. It's from Toni Andrews' blog "Something Different This Way Comes":
Permission for forward granted and encouraged!
I do a workshop on finding and fixing the common issues that get manuscripts rejected. It's been suggested that the information would make a good article to submit to writing magazines, but I never could get around to writing it. As a first step, I committed to publishing the workshop information in a series of blog posts.
I've gotten terrific feedb
